Chapter 11
Last time
Preparing myself mentally for what's coming after dinner
This time
Dinner passed in a blur, I hardly tasted my food.
We agreed to meet in the library as sort of a neutral ground.
As soon as I saw Lucuis finish his plate from the Slytherin table I motioned for him to follow me, telling my fellow Gryffindors that I'll meet them there.
We get some looks as we exit the Great Hall together, the one that intrigued me most was Dumbledores.
He had the same kind smile he always had bestowed on us in the future, but his eyes held a look I couldn't place.
A look of malice and meddling, in a blink it was gone.
Brushing that feeling off, I grabbed Lucius's hand and we proceeded to the library.
Severus was the first to arrive, looking adorably nervous at the prospect of seeing Lilly.
Also at the situation of being so close to his bullies.
I gave him a soft smile of reassurance and he offered a somewhat pained but thankful smile in return.
The next to file in was the rest of the Slytherins, and not moments later the Marauders plus Lily.
I could see the immediate tension and did my best to diffuse it.
"Thank you all for coming, so eagerly I might add" Sirius and Regulus gave a chuckle at this.
They each looked nervous hearing the other laugh, looking subtlety to their partners for reassurance.
It gave me hope, and I could tell from the cloudy gray eyes of each Black brother there was hope in them also.
I decided to start with what I knew would break the most ice.
"The recent quidditch game between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff was pretty good."
I can immediately see this was the right way to go as Rodolphus jumps in.
"Good? It was over in 5 minutes Hermione." Rodolphus says incredulously.
"Ravenclaw essentially handed Hufflepuff the victory." Lucius offers to bridge more conversation.
"Hufflepuff winning was the only miracle I'll ever belive in." Rabastan laughs and as they continue I can see James itching to jump in.
"Especially with the Ravenclaw seeker being a Seventh year against Hufflepuffs third year." The quidditch banter goes back and forth, with Lucius and Regulus chiming in.
Sirius was quiet, I could see he wanted to chime in but was nervous about an interaction with his brother.
"I'd have to agree, it was pretty boring." Sirius murmurs in a off-hand voice, trying not to stare directly at his brother.
"If it had been any other team but Hufflepuff, maybe we would've seen some action, pity the Ravenclaw seeker fancies the Hufflepuff seeker." Regulus replies directly back to him in the same voice, cracking a smile at the end.
Both brothers are trying not to betray their hope.
While the Quidditch talk went on, Severus, Lucius and Remus quietly started their own talk about potions, and Bella and Lily talked about some shops at Hogsmeade.
Peter was the only one staying quiet, his beady eyes looking between the group, trying to see who held the most power and protection.
I'm broken from my thoughts as Lucius squeezes my shoulders and places a kiss on my cheek.
"You somehow did it Mione, nobody's cursing or fighting" his voice held wonderment but his eyes showed how proud he was.
It was an impressive feat, the biggest animosity between groups from Hogwarts having a peaceful interaction.
It gave me a feeling of hope for the future.
As the month went on, our little group of Slytherin's and Gryffindor's would meet three times a week.
Sometimes we'd do homework or study, we'd watch the boys practice Quidditch or explore the frozen Hogwarts ground.
It was heartwarming to see these interactions.
Sirius and Regulus were working on their relationship and I could see it take a huge weight off them both to finally be able to talk.
Bella and Lily became fast shopping buddies, and would often talk with eachother the difference between growing up pureblood and growing up Muggleborn.
James took an instant liking to Rodolphus and Rabastan. I couldn't blame him, they were fun loving pranksters.
Exactly James's type.
Remus and Severus were the quiet ones of the group, often murmuring to eachother about the latest assignment or what lessons they found interesting.
Lucius normally joined them, whilst I flitted from conversation to conversation.
Peter was the only one who didn't fit. All the time he remained quiet unless spoken to.
The beady eyes still roamed, making the decision to which group would reign supreme.
It made me sick every time he attended, I just couldn't get over his future betrayals because I knew he held no remorse.
Our group began to grow also and other Slytherins and Gryffindors started showing up.
Most notable was Andromeda Black, whom I knew as Andromeda Tonks.
She had taken a liking to Severus, who in turn seemed to be quite taken with the brown haired beauty also.
The Black brothers grew the closest of a merry group, Regulus even opened up about his relationship with Rabastan.
Which was met with delight from Sirius as he told him about his relationship with Remus.
Severus and Lily got closer once more, after a while you could see Severus still loved her but it dulled to a friendly love.
He also insanely enough sometimes talked quidditch with James and Sirius.
As Christmas approached Dumbledore announced a Christmas ball so we could all make Merry, and to strangely enough promote 'house unity'
As he announced it, his eyes once again held the meddling look. Promoting house unity was strange because as I see it, the houses who normally fight have never been more peaceful.
I was brought back to reality by delighted squeals from Bella and Lily who adored any chance to shop.
It also puts stress on the Boys to ask their dates out in the best way to outshine the others.
They started a friendly competition to see who could ask their date out the best.
Whoever won would receive 100 Gallons.
James got Lilly a box set of his father's hair care products she'd been eyeing and three Petunias. Knowing they reminded her of home and were her favorite.
Rodolphus bought Bella a beautiful pure snowy white owl, almost identical to Hedwig.
Sirius bought Remus a chocolate mold of himself. Much to the horror of Remus who could not stop laughing and blushing.
Remus still accepted thankfully but Sirius would never live it down.
Lucius bought me a dozen pink carnations and a pretty silver necklace with an emerald pendant so I could 'bring out my inner Slytherin' as he put it.
Rabastan got Regulus a new quill from a rare albino peacock feather and a book he's been wanting.
Severus was the sweetest and also the most unexpected.
He picked flowers from the meadow, and wrote a beautiful poem for Andromeda.
Who blushed and accepted graciously.
It was sweet to see how his crush developed into this sweet gesture.
The boys conceded that Severus was the winner after seeing all us girls swoon over how thoughtful and pure Severus was.
The past really is becoming all tangled. How will things play out now that Severus is no longer hopelessly in love with Lily and sworn enemies with the marauders.
