Chapter 14:

"Where have you been?" Marlene demanded the moment I stepped through our dorm door.

She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to her bed, where Dorcas and Alice were already. I did a quick scan and was relieved to find Lily had already left for her prefect patrol.

"I was… around." I lied, scratching my cheek.

The three of them eyed me warily but, knowing we didn't have much time, they chose to ignore it. Then, Alice pulled out the folded jumper from somewhere behind her. I looked at it and smiled a smile that would have made the Cheshire Cat proud. The remains of today's events sipping away from my mind quickly as what we were about to do replaced those thoughts. I grabbed the jumper and unfolded it, looking at the bold letters and the number on the back of it.

"If my cousin has a stroke because he can't find this thing, you'll be the ones to tell my family." I warned as I folded the jumper over my arm.

"He'll have a stroke when he sees Lily wearing it." Alice giggled as she waved the warning away.

"If we get her to wear it." Dorcas added.

"Oh, we will, trust me." Marlene shrugged, taking the jumper from my hands.

Out of the six of us, the six being Marlene, Dorcas, Alice, Lily, Mary and I, only Mary and Lily were prefects. Every two weeks, we'd do a girls night in after they went patrolling. It usually consisted of eating candy, gossiping, doing our nails and, sometimes, we played 'Never Have I Ever'. Tonight, though, we were going to use that game as our advantage, change the rules, add a bet and get Lily to wear James' Quidditch jumper for tomorrow's game. The girls had noticed the tension between Lily and James on the train ride here, everyone had, and it could only be labeled as 'sexual tension'. Seeing as though one party had suddenly grown shy, James, and the other was still living in denial land, Lily, we decided to play match-maker. It hadn't been the first time and it wouldn't be the last. So the plan had fallen into motion. We made sure those two sat together as much as possible and the Quidditch match tomorrow, Gryffindor against Slytherin, was the perfect final push, or at least we hoped. Lily didn't play Quidditch but she got really excited and always ended up cheering for her supposedly less favorite Chaser: James Potter. Of course, afterwards she'd claim she was cheering for Gryffindor, not Potter. Well, tomorrow she'd go into those bleachers wearing my cousin's jumper even if I had to force her into it. Everybody knew what it meant to wear a guy's Quidditch jumper to a match.

"What makes you so sure she'll do it? She could simply choose not to play and then one of us would be stuck wearing Potter's jumper." Mary protested.

"What's wrong with Potter's jumper?" I asked, slightly offended.

"She won't know it's Potter's," Marlene cut in, taking her wand and waving it in front of the jumper. The name POTTER and the number quickly disappeared from view, making it look like it was a simple Gryffindor red oversized jumper. "There, now it'll only be an ugly jumper, that is until she screams out James' name on the pitch tomorrow, which we all know she will." Marlene explained, putting her wand away.

We all glanced at each other before combusting into giggles. Oh, this was going to be great. So, great. I had to admit I had been reluctant to do this when Dorcas suggested it but now that we were actually going through with it, I loved it. Soon, the door opened and Lily and Mary entered, already getting rid off of their robes and making their way to the bathroom to change into their pajamas. Mary was out first and she lazily made her way to Marlene's bed, where she started to eat a chocolate frog.

"Okay, so tonight is…" Alice trailed off, once Lily was already with us. "Confession night!" she exclaimed happily.

Lily groaned and fell down on her back, her hair falling behind her like a halo. I missed that about long hair. We all giggled, knowing she hated those nights because she was such a goodie-goodie, even if she denied to be so. Mary was similar.

"Who and where was your first kiss?" Dorcas asked.

"Shouldn't we know this by now?" Marlene questioned with a frown before shrugging and answering anyway. "Jason McCartney under the bleachers of the Quidditch pit." She announced.

"You go, McCartney!" we cheered, clapping goofily.

"Matt Clarkson, the abandoned broom closet in the seventh floor," Dorcas said, taking a candy from our supply.

"After hours?" I asked, even if I already knew. She nodded.

"Sneaky, you get two candies." Alice joked, throwing her another candy. "Now, my first kiss was David, he's a muggle and lives in the Riviera where we spent the summer of fourth year." She continued.

"Sirius Black, Gryffindor Common Room," I said, immediately turning to Lily.

Everybody knew that and I did not want the topic to stay on him. Lily looked up from her pumpkin muffin and blushed a bit.

"Ben Thomas… um, our second trip to Hogsmeade." She nodded, as if she was assuring herself of this fact.

We teased her a bit before turning slowly towards Mary, who blushed scarlet and timidly admitted to never have been kissed. We nodded in understanding and didn't push her, instead jumping to another topic. We talked like that for hours, talking about our first detention, how many times had we been embarrassed at public, Lily got the award at that one, and other stuff. Eventually and surprisingly, Lily asked that we played 'Never Have I Ever.'

"All right," Dorcas said happily. "But let's make it interesting, okay?"

We all groaned and protested, acting like we didn't know what she was talking about. Lily furrowed her nose up but said nothing. Marlene took this as her cue and moved to get the jumper.

"Whoever loses, they'll wear this to the Quidditch game tomorrow morning." She waved the jumper around.

"Then you keep it." I snorted. "You've done the most out of all of us."

"Ah, but tonight's different, see?" she continued after shooting me a mock-glare. "The loser will be the person who has more fingers up."

Lily sat up straight right away, a worried look on her face. The jumper wasn't ugly per say, but it was big and it would obviously be oversized on any of us. And she knew she could end up wearing it.

"But it's ugly and it's the first game of the season." She complained.

"That's the idea, silly," Alice said.

She grumbled and was hesitant but eventually we all started to play. It was a relatively short game, considering three parts of the party lost in the first three tries. Dorcas, Marlene and I simply watched as the other girls try not to lose. Eventually, though, it came down to Lily and Mary and Lily lost.

"Congrats, Lils!" I exclaimed, throwing the jumper her way. "Here's your prize!"

Everyone laughed and started to tease her about it. She was mad but eventually laughed along with us when we told her a way to wear it so it wouldn't look like she had shrunk. After that we went to sleep. I turned on my side and saw Marlene was facing me, her eyes opened. She gave me a thumbs up before pressing her hand to her mouth so nobody would hear her giggles. I smiled and rolled my eyes at her obvious excitement before turning on my side and falling asleep.

I woke with a start, a scream about to leave my throat. I sat up quickly, realizing I had distressed tear tracks on my face and that more tears were coming. I didn't understand where they came from. Once again, the dream had dissipated from the forefront of my mind into my subconscious the moment I had sat up. I knew, however, that it had been the same dream I had the first day of term. It felt just the same. I passed a hand through my right cheek, trying to dry the tears. Then I blindly looked around for my bedside table clock. It read 4 : 30 A.M. Knowing I would not go back to sleep, I got up, took my make-up kit from one of the drawers of the dresser I shared with Lily and made my way to the bathroom as quietly as possible so the other girls wouldn't wake. Today was Saturday, which meant breakfast started at nine, and that meant they didn't have to wake for another three and a half hours.

Even with the warm shower I took, the sight that welcomed me in the mirror was not a pretty one. My eyes were red, I had dark bags under my eyes and my skin was way too pale for it to be considered healthy. Not to mention my chapped lips and the bird's nest I had as hair. It was a damped matted mess. A banshee would have looked beautiful next to this. I sighed and started to untangle my hair carefully and with great patience. Halfway through, though, tears started to leak from my eyes once again. This time they weren't out of distress or fear, they were tears of frustration. This was the third night I woke up before the sun was up because of nightmares and I was done with it. Tomorrow, I'd ask the Nurse for something for sleep. With that thought, I started to apply my make-up. I will not admit how much of it I used, I will only say it was enough for me to look like I had slept like a baby the entire week. Once I was done, there was no sign of tiredness on my face, nor were there any signs of tears. It looked natural but also covered every little flaw on my face. I went back to my bed only to realize it was snowing hard outside, so I opted to wear some black trousers, a long sleeved white shirt and my Gryffindor scarf, along with my black coat and my black knee-high boots. I looked at the clock, hoping I had bought some time. I had, in fact. It was now 6: 00 A.M. It was still too early to wake up either Lily or Marlene so, taking Persuasion by Jane Austen, my reading glasses and my wand, I made my way out of the Sixth Year girls' dorm.

…..

"Hey!" I complained when someone took my reading glasses off of my face, making the small letters all blurry.

I had gone down to the Great Hall at seven thirty. Way too early for anyone's liking but there was food already served. Turns out, the teachers ate early everyday. My mother sent me a worried glance, alongside Professor McGonagall and Professor Grace, but Dumbledore simply sent me a smile when I made my way down the corridor and to the Gryffindor table. After I ate, I continued my reading, which had now been rudely interrupted by no other than Sirius Black, already wearing his Quidditch gear.

"Why are you here so early?" he asked, sending me a grin, as he flopped down beside me.

"I'm reading." I answered, moving to retrieve my glasses from him.

He moved his hand so they were farther away from me than they already were. When I turned my killing glare on him, he simply grinned again.

"What are you doing?" I fumed, taking an apple and starting to nib at it. Apparently, I would not go back to reading.

"I'm getting breakfast, the most important meal of the day." He announced in a tone that suggested I was dumb for not knowing this.

Well, yes, okay that was kind of a given. But it was eight in the morning; he wasn't supposed to be down here in at least half an hour. The Marauders were known for sleeping in as much as possible.

"Isn't it a bit early for you to have breakfast?" I questioned again, raising an eyebrow.

"On the contrary, I have a Quidditch match to win this afternoon, I have to rise early and prepare for victory." He informed me with a mocking tone.

I was not amused. Okay, maybe a little bit. All right, so my lips quirked upwards and I ended up smiling like an idiot, sue me. It was not my fault that the boy sitting in front of me made me go all… well, for lack of better word, giddy. Ugh, this was ridiculous. I had a boyfriend, for crying out loud! A boyfriend I loved very much, thank you. But ever since that night when Sirius and I looked up at the stars and talked until three A.M. in the morning, I hadn't been able to keep eye contact with him without getting stupid-ass butterflies in my stomach. Not to mention he had definitely gotten hotter over the Christmas break, and I saw him everyday. Arrogance was something I did not appreciate, it actually was one of the things I claimed to hate about him for the last few years, but I knew he was only joking. In fact, I was sure the only reason he was down here so early in the morning was because he was nervous over the match. And, as I looked at him closely while trying hard not to gape, I realized the comment was most likely to make me feel better.

"What's your excuse?" he asked me as he buttered a bagel.

"Uh…" I stuttered, snapping my mind back into reality and looking like I was thinking before he could realize I was actually trying to figure out what shade of grey his eyes were today. "I had a nightmare, nothing to worry about." I dismissed with a wave of my hand.

That was the wrong thing to say. He paused in mid-action, his hand stretched out so he could grab more butter with the butter knife. I cringed. Right… he knew my nightmares weren't exactly good.

"What was it about?" he asked, turning to look at me.

"Nothing, really." I shook my head as I frowned at him. Something looked different; I just couldn't exactly pinpoint what. "I can't really remember…" I trailed off, squinting my eyes at him, when it suddenly hit me. "You cut your hair off!" I exclaimed, so loudly that some people actually looked up from their breakfast.

He had, indeed, cut his hair off. It wasn't much, but it was enough for it to be noticeable. He ran a hand through his recently cut hair and smiled my way almost sheepishly. His hair no longer reached his shoulders, now it was kind of in between his shoulders and his face. It looked great and made it look so much better and now it looked even more attractive, if possible. I had to restrain myself from reaching out and touching it.

"Yeah, I had to do it eventually. It came to the point where McGonagall said she'd do it herself." He shrugged. "And it's not like I can bother my mother by having it long if she can't see me." he added a bit darkly.

I bit my lip at that, bothered by the fact that even if that despicable woman was already out of his life, she still plagued his thoughts. I inwardly shook the bad words that came to mind next to the name Walburga Black, and instead smiled brightly at him.

"It looks great, I like it." I nodded.

He smiled and went back to his breakfast, looking almost relieved to have my approbation. But that was ridiculous, why would he want my approbation out of everyone else's? Just as I was getting rid of that thought, the doors opened and Remus, James and Peter came in, followed slowly by the girls. I noticed how Lily wasn't wearing the Quidditch jumper yet, she was probably postponing the inevitable. James had his Quidditch gear on but looked miserable. He usually was ecstatic about a Quidditch game.

"What's wrong, James?" I asked worriedly.

My book was still abandoned between Sirius and me, and I noticed how he finally returned my glasses by putting them atop my book. I didn't bother to continue reading, with all of them here, it'd be futile. Everyone was happily chatting; Marlene was talking vividly with Remus about how unfair it was to have so much homework, Peter was putting way too much butter on his toast, Mary was distracted with staring at Remus and Dorcas still looked half-asleep. Sirius was still frowning, although I didn't know what about, and Lily was now looking at James as well.

"I can't find my Quidditch jumper." He whined.

The girls and I shared a glance before they went back to doing what they were doing. I cleared my throat, arranging myself on the bench. I had never really considered the fact that he may or may not actually need the jumper. They never wore them, expect for practices or Quidditch meetings.

"…you don't actually need it, right? I mean you've got all of your other… Quidditch clothes?" I finished lamely, not really knowing how to formulate the question.

"Quidditch clothes?" James asked, puzzled at the choice of words, before shaking his head and shrugging. "Not really, but still… it's my Quidditch jumper, y'know? It's like special." He answered.

"Special how?" Lily asked.

James now looked embarrassed and slightly flushed. I quirked an eyebrow up, interested. Everyone was now tuning on the conversation, mainly because it was kind of getting better than the other ones.

"He thinks it brings him luck." Sirius snorted from beside me.

"Oh…" I said, trailing off and looking around so I wouldn't laugh in my cousin's face.

I couldn't believe it. James Potter was superstitious? I should be superstitious, not him! I was the one having weird visions. Besides, he needn't be. He was great at Quidditch, I was sure he'd be Team Captain next year.

"You have nothing to worry about, James," Lily spoke up, surprising everyone. "You're a great chaser and I'm sure you simply misplaced it." She smiled at him, patting him once in the hand before going back to her breakfast.

James was too flabbergasted to say anything and I took another sip of my water to keep my nervous fidgeting from showing. Yes, sure he misplaced it… or a group of crazy teenagers took it for their mischief. Oh, lord. I hoped we hadn't screwed up too bad. Luckily for everyone, we didn't screw up at all. James was as impeccable as ever, Sirius kept gaining points for our team and the game went incredibly well. Lily was screaming at every Slytherin to stop playing dirty and, if she wasn't doing that, then she was rooting for James so loud I was sure even James could hear it. Needless to say, the name POTTER appeared twenty minutes into the game. The Slytherin team earned a fault when one of the beaters, Achill Barclay, deliberately sent a Bludger our way to try and shut Lily up; it made her, well, us, get even angrier at the Slytherin Team and its antics.

"I swear next time I catch that idiot of Barclay sneaking around the fifth floor corridor with that… with that…" at this Lily faltered, not being able to conjure up a good adjective to describe Barclay's girlfriend.

"Wench?" Dorcas suggested, her voice a little out of breath because of the climb that was from the Quidditch Pitch to the castle.

The game had ended a bit ago and everyone was making their way up to the Gryffindor tower to celebrate that we won. The boys had gone ahead to start making the preparations while James and Sirius changed.

"Slut?" I asked, tying my scarf around my neck and fighting back a shiver.

"Whore?" Marlene giggled from beside me.

"I… whatever, yes, that." Lily waved off.

We kept chatting all the way to the castle, laughing with the rest of the Gryffindor crowd. I couldn't help but notice how some people kept looking back at Lily's clothes more often than not. Thankfully, she was completely oblivious to it all. Marlene sent me a look and I lifted my eyebrows in excitement. Okay, so far so good.

Somehow, the party was already raging on by the time we got there. There was music, food, and lots and lots of Gryffindor banners. Some of the members of the team had already arrived and people didn't take long to start conversation with them. The girls and I parted ways, not before sharing a look behind Lily's shoulder. Alice gave Marlene and me a 'thumbs up' while Dorcas had to drag Mary away to explain everything to her when said girl's eyes had fallen onto Lily's jumper. I went for a butterbeer and simply hang around, chatting with everyone. I even forgot I had trouble sleeping. I got what I wanted: distractions, even if they were for just a while. When the Gryffindor Quidditch team came into the Common Room, the party got even louder. I clapped and cheered with them, happy that my friends had won the first game of the season. I hugged James tightly, laughing at his radiating excitement. I went to hug Sirius as well but he was nowhere to be seen. I looked for him as I made my way through the crowds, accidentally walking into a couple who was in the middle of a very heated make-out session and who turned out to be Ariadne and the guy she had been eyeing oh-so-long-ago. Yes, that might have scarred me for life.

"Lily!" I called when I spotted her.

"Mere! Isn't this great? It's the best start of the year!" she exclaimed, grabbing my arms. "I mean if January is this good, imagine the rest!"

My smile faltered a bit, not wanting to tell her perhaps the year wouldn't be as great. I didn't even know if my dreams were premonitions or if they were simply nightmares, no need to worry anyone.

"Yeah!" I replied, matching her excitement. "Have you seen Sirius?" I asked, having to raise my voice over the sound of the now loud music.

She frowned and thought about it, absentmindedly playing with her sleeve. "Not really… I saw him when he came in but then I lost him." She replied, almost apologetic.

"I can't find him." I protested.

"I'm sure he's somewhere around." She eyed me curiously and I suddenly fidgeted, slowly tugging my arms out of her hands. "Did you notice? He cut his hair." She commented with that tone that let everyone know she was up to something.

"Uh… yeah," I said, turning to face the crowd and looking around.

I didn't understand why I was so fixated on congratulating him. I could do it tonight, or tomorrow or in a fortnight, it didn't really matter. Hell, why would I congratulate him anyway? Because that's the nice thing to do. The little voice in the back of my head told me and I knew it was right. Besides, Sirius had been so nice to me lately, how could I not return the favor?

"I thought it looked really nice. Much better than the long mop of hair he had," Lily continued, her tone made me dread making eye contact with her, so I kept my searching eyes on the crowd. "Not that I'm saying it didn't suit him, mind you. I think he looks handsome either way… don't you think, Mere?" she asked.

"Hmhm, yes, totally." I agreed with a hum.

I stopped searching when I received nothing but silence on Lily's part. I turned my head towards her with a confused frown on my face. She was biting her lip to prevent a big smile and her green eyes were big, dancing with glee. I registered my own words inside my mind and let out a chuckle, shaking my head.

"Oh, Lily," I laughed. "You never give up, do you?"

"Nope," she said, allowing the big smile on her face to show.

I shook my head with a laugh and turned back to the crowd, Lily did the same, laughing as well, and we both searched for said boy. I found it funny that she'd spent so long simply trying to get me to admit that Sirius was 'my one true love' or whatever. I mildly wondered if she'd keep it up until the end of our Sixth Year and was about to ask that when something caught my eye. There in one of the corners of the Common Room, one reserved for nothing but snogging, sat Sirius Black and another fellow Gryffindor from seventh year… Catharine, she was called. The laughter died down on my throat and my stomach dropped to my feet. I simply stood there, openly staring, as an emotion I could only describe as jealousy and total hatred towards that idiotic brunette ran through my veins.

"What?" Lily giggled when she noticed I had stopped laughing.

She followed my sight and her own smile fell.

"Oh, well, I guess we've found him." She muttered sympathetically. "Are you all right?" she asked, turning to me with a concern look on her face.

I averted my eyes from the duo in the corner and simply nodded, not even understanding where all this was coming from. It was the second time in less than a year that I got jealous over Sirius Black. But that was impossible because A) I'm not really a jealous person and B) I don't fancy him, so why would I be jealous? Yes, of course, I had come to realize how much more attractive he was now, yes, we had become closer, but that did not mean I fancied him in the slightest. He was a friend.

"I'm fine, Lily." I answered. "I'm going to get some air, this is all a little too crowded." I excused myself.

Without waiting for an answer, I fought my way through the crowd and into the deserted hallway, wanting to get out of that room as soon as possible.