Hi everyone - I've been getting back into Marauders fanfiction recently and have decided to have a shot at my own story. Hope you enjoy!
"You absolute fucking moron."
The words, which were delivered with a tone that was a mixture of incredulity, amusement and disbelief, came from Remus Lupin, one of three boys currently sat in the train carriage. He had mousy brown hair and a friendly, kind face, albeit one that underscored by a sense of tiredness and depth that looked like it was never wholly absent. His words, intended in affectionately despite their content, were followed by similar sentiments, made by another of the boys present in the carriage, and Remus' close friend, Peter Pettigrew, a plump, short boy with a round face and sandy, straggly hair.
"For Merlin's sake, Padfoot, what were you thinking?" Peter's comment, unlike Remus', did at least come with a shadow of admiration, as he shared the expression on Remus' face. Both, despite the content of their remarks, were laughing to themselves.
Sirius Black, the third boy in the carriage and the one whom the other two had directed their comments at, shrugged lazily, offered the two boys sitting opposite him a slight grin. He looked neither ashamed or particularly proud of himself, which was unusual, as one of his defining traits was looking proud of himself, even if his behaviour did not necessarily merit such a look. He was strikingly handsome and tall, with dark, curly hair, sharp bone structure and an air with which he carried himself that suggested he was entirely aware of his good looks and the presence in which he brought to a room.
Despite his expression suggesting vague indifference, he was indeed slightly regretful of his actions in the instance that the boys had been discussing, which had taken place roughly a week prior to their conversation. It was not like Sirius to be regretful or embarrassed, but in this case, he certainly was a little bit.
"I honestly think it was Prongs' fault. I think he spiked the firewhiskey again.'
Remus rolled his eyes. 'We've discussed this - you can't claim that drinking too much firewhiskey, mostly of your own accord but occasionally with some encouragement from Prongs, constitutes spiking.'
'Well, I obviously wasn't thinking straight for some reason, was I?' Sirius said defensively, but, like his friends, was laughing to himself at the situation he had found himself in. "I'll just have to, I don't know, ignore her for a few months so she gets the idea that I'm not interested, and it was all just a little mistake - I didn't mean it.'
Peter chortled. "Yeah, carting her off to your bedroom under the guise of showing her your record collection but going on to snog her was totally unintentional."
Sirius puffed his cheeks and sighed dramatically. "It's so unfair that she had to go and get fit. I would never have done this if she was still a minger."
Remus sighed at his two friends. "Well, I hate to be so predictable in my role as the, admittedly somewhat skewed and loose, moral compass of this group - but I feel sorry for her."
"Christ, here we go," muttered Sirius, pulling a face at Peter that he reciprocated, clearly pleased to be seen as an ally by his friend in this case.
"I do!" Remus insisted. "You know you shouldn't have taken the piss out of her for how much she used to fancy you, let alone stood her up as a joke. And now you've gone and snogged her, and I know she's calmed down a bit in the last year or so but I wouldn't be surprised if she's back fawning over you, now you've given her the idea you like her enough to snog her - "
"I did like her enough to snog her, at the time - like I said, she's actually quite fit now - "
" - she's a nice girl. We all started to get on with her last year. I just think, of all the girls you could have snogged, you could have snogged anyone but the one who had such a big thing for you she used to turn red just from you walking in a room." Remus interjected.
"Do you fancy her or something? Is that why you're defending her?" Sirius queried.
Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm not "defending" her, there's nothing to defend, is there? And believe it or not, Padfoot, but I can object to how someone is treated for reasons other than fancying someone. I just think, you know, she had quite a hard time from us - well, mainly you and Prongs - and she's not really been like that for a couple of years, and I don't really want to see a resurgence of it, what with us being 17 now, actually friends with her and her group and, you know, not utter knob heads anymore -"
"Alright, yeah I get it. Believe it or not, I do feel a bit guilty." Sirius sighed, rubbing his head. His friends looked at his doubtful. "I do! I like the girls, I don't want to make anything awkward, and I obviously don't want to be a prick to her anymore, but I also don't want her fawning over me. It used to be painful. I'm going to have to let her down gently, I suppose, or failing that just completely ignore her, to get rid of it. I've undone all my good work. Merlin knows it doesn't come easy to me putting women off. " He paused, and Peter laughed. "God, normally I'm completely fine with women being obsessed with me, but Libby was so, so tragic I just don't think even I can deal with the embarrassment of it, let alone Prongs taking the piss."
Just as Sirius referenced the fourth member of the group, Prongs, or James Potter, he arrived in the carriage, his expression wide with delight, clearly pleased to see that the gossip of the past week had evidently been shared with the two friends who had not been present for its occurrence and at the embarrassment of his usually untouchable best friend. James, like Sirius, was a tall and good looking 17 year old boy, and exuded the same easy confidence.
"He's filled you in then?" James said, nodding at Remus and Peter. They nodded back. "Excellent. What a git, eh? I told him after - look, she's a nice girl, a good laugh when she wants to be as well, and definitely a lot better looking than she was, but he's made life hard for us too - we were just starting to get on with them, and now Libby will lose the ability to speak in front of us again. Still, I knew it would be good value inviting them." The 'them' that he referred to was Libby and her group of four other 7th year Gryffindor friends, who had at various stages, been present on the night in question.
"God," Peter said reminiscently, "It used to be so funny when she choked on her toast whenever Padfoot spoke to her at breakfast. I do hope we get to see that again."
Sirius groaned, as the other three boys (including Remus, in spite of himself) laughed at their friend's misfortune.
—
The event that the four boys had been discussing in their train carriage were also being discussed in another carriage, at the opposite end of the train, but in much further detail, and with very different conclusions.
"Right," Lily Evans said, smoothing down her uniform and sitting down next to her friend, Mary MacDonald and opposite her three other closest friends, Marlene McKinnon, Kath Sanderson and Libby Mulligan. "Sorry about that. I'm ready now. Fill us in."
"I've been a right idiot." Libby replied, picking up her fat, tabby cat, Doris, from the carriage floor and placing her on a lap. She spoke in a tone that did not suggest embarrassment, but instead had a hint of relishing the story she was about to share with her closest group of friends. Libby was someone who enjoyed being in possession of a good story and sharing it with an audience, especially when the audience was the four girls sat with her currently, who over six years of school had developed such a deep understanding of their various quirks and what they each found funny, that they had such a sense of ease with each other that meant very little went unshared. Particularly, little went unshared from Libby, who was the definition of an open book.
"Nothing's changed, then." Mary said, teasingly. Having been the only one of the girls present when the events in question had unfolded, she was bristling with excitement at finally getting to speak to her other friends about the matter.
"Right," Libby exhaled. "I want to preface this by saying I expect offerings of advice for how to proceed from all of you. So please do bare that in mind as I speak. And Lily, I do not, under any circumstances, want to receive your martyr act -"
"Right, yeah, get on with it." Marlene interrupted.
"Alright. So, after you all left," Libby began, motioning to Lily, Marlene and the fifth friend, Kath, "It was just me and Mary, and we were playing Drunk Gobstones, so whenever you got hit, you had to have a drink."
"It was fun." Mary interrupted, for the benefit of the other three.
"Yeah," agreed Libby, "It was fucking daft. So were enjoying that, and Black and me were on a sort of team, and the Cornish Pixies were playing, and I was banging on about how good they were when we all went to see them in Leeds in July - "
"They were really good." Both Kath and Lily agreed, nodding.
"Yeah, they were." Libby continued. "So I was telling Black about it, and not to shag my own arse or anything - "
"Lovely." Marlene commented.
" - but, right, I looked decent that night, didn't I? And, anyway, we'd sort of been flirting a bit, and I hadn't thought anything of it, because obviously that's just what he's like, and we were having this really intense conversation about their second album or something - "
"It's shit." Mary said shortly. "Their worst work."
"He thought so too. I was defending it, saying it was just more experimental. Anyway, the game sort of disbands because we were all chatting away about something or other, and Remus and Peter had gone, and he goes "I've actually just got their most recent album, me and James got it when we went to Diagon Alley the other day", and he asks if I want to come upstairs so I could listen to some of it, as I've not bought it yet."
Collectively, the girls groaned.
"For Merlin's sake!"
"Trust Black to find a way to bring any topic of conversation round to getting a woman upstairs."
"So, did he try it on with you?" Lily asked, engaged.
"Essentially, yes." Libby admitted, and the girls gasped, laughed and gagged. Libby smirked slightly, enjoying both the retelling of the story and the way her friends had immediately taken on their role as active listeners. "Anyway, I know it's pathetic, but I sort of liked the idea that he even slightly fancied me, and I just went along with it - I know I shouldn't have, god knows he doesn't need any encouragement - but after all those years of him and Potter rinsing me and taking the piss about how much I used to fancy Black, it was sort of redeeming to think that, even just for that night, he did fancy me a bit. I kind of thought, you know what, yeah, fuck you Black. I thought it was funny."
"Yeah, but surely you then ceded that power by snogging him at first ask." Marlene said. Kath looked at her, with a slightly accusatory expression. Marlene continued, "Look, I'm not saying that to be a dick, I get your logic, but you should have walked off as soon as he tried it on.'
"Yeah, well, when have I ever made the right choice at 4 in the morning after drinking too much firewhiskey?" Libby asked. "I haven't, ever. I'm not as collected as you, Mar. And at the end of the day, for all his flaws, he has this annoying sort of magnetism that makes you sort of forget what you're doing. So I followed him, and listened to the start of the album - it was good, but no "Call of the Banshee", I thought - and we were talking about it, and he started, like, sidling up to me… and he snogged me." Libby concluded, waiting for her friends' reaction. Again, the girls gasped and laughed.
"What did he say?" Kath asked.
Libby snorted. "Something like, "I've wanted to do this all evening"".
The girls, including Libby, fell about laughing, eventually pulling themselves back together to hear the rest of the night's occurrences. Libby grinned at them sheepishly. "It was so stupid."
"God, I get the creeps just thinking about that." Lily shuddered.
"I know, right."
"What was it like?" Kath asked suddenly.
Libby shrugged. "Don't know really, my memory was a bit hazy. But alright, I think."
"So what happened next?" Kath asked, captivated.
"Mary called up the stairs and asked what I was doing. We sort of, jumped apart, like we'd woken up and realised it was all a bit weird. I just put my top back on, said bye, and just left. And we went back to Mary's. And that was it."
"God Mare, you're such a cockblock." Marlene quipped, hitting Mary gently on the arm. Mary laughed.
"I know. Honestly, I had no idea. I suppose it's for the best I didn't let the events unfold, but it would have been good value." Mary speculated.
"Look," Libby began hesitantly, "Anyway, I'm not proud of myself. He's a goon, for sure. I just sort of felt like I was one upping him, after all those years he called me ugly, and fat, and horrible, and for what he did in Hogsmeade, and I shouldn't have let it get that far - "
"I'd have done the same."
The girls looked round, startled. No one had expected these words to come out of Lily's mouth, who very rarely did anything illogical or irrational, entirely unlike Libby, and was routinely unimpressed by Sirius Black.
"Wh - really?" Libby asked. She had hoped Marlene would have agreed - frankly, all she had been hoping from from Lily was that she wouldn't lecture her.
Lily nodded, and then broke into a smile. "Yeah. I would. You're totally right. He kind of deserves it. He was a dick to you for years, when all you did was fancy him and worship the ground he walked on, and the way he treated you for it wasn't funny in the slightest. It was actually really cruel. I don't think he is the same person anymore, sure, but I can totally understand why, yeah, if he's stood there snogging you you let it happen. Even funnier you just let when he clearly thought he was fully in with you to leave him hanging."
Libby grinned.
Marlene, the final one to speak, looked at Libby.
"So, what about Lorcan? I know you thought he was losing interest - did you break up?"
It was this point, raised by Marlene, that was why Libby had been nervous of telling her friends what had unfolded between herself and Sirius a week ago, at the party at James Potter's house. It was why she had feared a lecture from Lily, and the reason for the steady feeling of guilt she had been in possession of for the last week. It was an aspect of the story which she had not yet covered. Lorcan Battersby, the boy mentioned by Marlene was, as of two days ago, her boyfriend. And five days prior to him asking her to be his girlfriend, she had been snogging Sirius Black while he had his hands up her shirt.
Libby was not somebody who made poor decisions out of a lack of regard for others' feelings, or out of cruelty or malice. That did not, however, mean she was not someone who did not make poor decisions at all. And what had unfolded with Sirius Black, when she had been seeing Lorcan Battersby since May, was certainly a bad decision on her part.
Lorcan and Libby, both now in their 7th year at Hogwarts, had known each other since they were 11, but had hardly uttered a word to each other until their 5th year, when Marlene started going out with Lorcan's best friend, Andrew Rookwood. Because of this relationship, their social circles had intersected far more frequently than they had previously, and on occasion, Marlene's friends had joined her for parties, or meals, or in classes, with Andrew's group of friends in Ravenclaw.
Libby had started fancying Lorcan, with some encouragement from Marlene, who knew that Lorcan felt the same way towards Libby, sometime around February of their sixth year. Libby knew this because she distinctly remembered how pissed off she was about the four Valentine's cards that Lorcan received (Libby got one - from Lily, who gave each of her friends a card and some chocolates every year), which was only soothed by the fact that he had made a point of singling her out to wish her a happy Valentine's Day. He was far too cool to give her a card, and Libby was far too forgetful - she had forgotten about the day entirely until she saw Lorcan. Libby was further pissed off by the fact that she did not want to be someone who took any notice of Valentine's Day, but there she was, pathetically trying to figure out who had sent the cards to Lorcan, and if it would be possible to hex them with no consequence. She told Marlene about the interaction immediately, who squealed and said she would ask Andrew about it later.
Following this, Libby and Lorcan remained locked in stalemate for some months, with neither particularly keen to make the first move, or potentially jeopardise or complicate the solid relationship of their best friends should their own fail. Libby was not in anyway hopeful that Lorcan had any serious interest in her, owing to the fact he was good-looking, a talented Quidditch player, and held in very high regard by most students, particularly girls. Libby was quite pretty herself, with curly, long brown hair, deep brown eyes and olive skin, but had been rather unattractive for her first four years of school, with wonky teeth, bad acne and an awkward manner, and this seemed to somehow inhibit her standings still, despite the fact she had managed to mostly shake off these traits in her fifth year. Lorcan, on the other hand, was not lacking in confidence, but was a rather quiet and serious boy, and certainly wary of whether the relationship of his closest friend, who had fancied Marlene McKinnon for years and finally managed to win her over in his 5th year, would be affected if he were to pursue Libby. For this reason, Libby and Lorcan's interactions were, for months, rather cagey; they would speak at breakfast, when the girls sometimes sat with Andrew and Lorcan's group of Ravenclaw friends, or after Quidditch matches, or in some of their classes.
Some time around April, this began to shift. Lorcan would seek Libby out, even when he was not with Andrew or she with Marlene, and he offered to help her with her Transfiguration work, her worst subject and by far his best, and they met up regularly for what was ostensibly this purpose, but increasingly became a chance for them to chat and flirt somewhere private. A few days before Ravenclaw played Slytherin, the penultimate match of the Quidditch season and one that, if Ravenclaw won, would set Gryffindor up nicely to win the Quidditch Cup, Lorcan approached Libby with her friends and asked to speak to her.
"I just wanted to make sure that you're coming to watch the match on Saturday?" He asked, smiling. She smiled back at him in response - it was hard not to smile back at him, as he had such a warm and infectious smile.
"Oh, of course! I would never miss it. I've bet Mary that Hopper won't even score against you, so I'll be there to support. Don't let me down."
"It's nice to know you have such faith in me." He smirked.
"Don't get big headed, I just have none in Hopper." Libby quipped.
"Well, regardless, you'll have to share your winnings with me if that does happen - I'll be at least partially responsible." He pointed out. Libby scoffed.
"No chance. I'm skint, and it's almost summer - I need that money."
"Well, maybe you'll just have to thank me in some other way then." He said softly, rearranging his bag over his shoulder.
"Yeah, maybe I will." Libby replied, matching his tone. "Bye, Battersby. Keep at the Transfiguration, yeah? One day, you might finally be as good as me."
He laughed, shaking his head as she walked away to rejoin her friends, who huddled around her excitedly as she relayed what had been said.
Following the match, in which Ravenclaw beat Slytherin 200-50, and Lorcan made a number of fine saves, the girls were invited to a party in the Ravenclaw Common Room, thanks to Marlene's relationship with Andrew, who was particularly thrilled by the outcome as Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. Having shared the conversation that had been had between her and Lorcan some days prior, and also shared the fact that she thought he was stupidly fit with her friends repeatedly, all the girls were as excited as Libby, but she had insisted they play it cool, in case she had completely misread the situation.
Luckily, she had not.
As soon as the group arrived at the party, Lorcan made a beeline for them - or rather, for Libby. Taking their cue, her friends quickly dispersed, all conveniently finding someone they had to speak to as a matter or urgency just as the Ravenclaw Keeper reached them.
"Alright, Mulligan?" He asked, his tone clearly smug with the outcome of the match as he handed her a butterbeer, which she took gratefully.
"Alright, Battersby? Well played. Just a shame that you let in that one from Hopper, considering you saved his other seven shots. I owed Mary five sickles because of you," Libby said, trying to not convey that she had actually thought Lorcan's performance was entirely impressive, and she was not at all upset at her lost bet. Her stomach fluttered as she recalled a particularly complex save he had made halfway through the match, which had resulted in an outbreak of chanting of his name and during which their eyes had locked for a second, and he had flashed her a grin so charming she thought she could feel her heart spin in her chest. She was not someone who was very good at playing it cool, and she was well aware that her face was probably giving her away, but at that moment she didn't mind particularly.
"I did feel bad." He admitted, "I suppose now it's me who has to make it up to you?"
"Yeah, you can give me five sickles and work on your bloody shot stopping - "
"Shut up, Mulligan, I didn't mean it like that," He said softly, as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. She reciprocated, placing her bottle down on the table to the side of them as her hands wrapped themselves round his neck and in his hair, and she relaxed into him, ignoring the wolf whistles (and aggressive whooping, that she thought probably came from Mary and Marlene). Later, Libby would wonder if Lorcan had been buoyed by much greater liquid confidence than she had, given he had been at the party for some hours before they had arrived, but she found she didn't particularly mind. They spent most of the rest of the evening together, talking and laughing and sneaking off to places more private to snog. They talked more about themselves than they had done previously, often surrounded by friends or spending time together with the guise of school work covering any true intention. Libby found out that Lorcan was from York, not far from her own home city of Leeds, and he insisted she come visit him in the soon approaching summer. He told her he had fancied her since the start of the year, but had been hesitant to do anything about it because of Marlene and Andrew, and because of her famous and painful crush on Sirius Black, to which she laughed at, and explained that had long since disappeared. He was pleased to hear this.
As school finished, the two spent more time together, still working on Transfiguration (as Lorcan genuinely was very good at helping her) and sneaking off together when they could for less wholesome purposes. Four days before the end of term, they found themselves in an abandoned classroom on the fifth floor, and they had sex for the first time. They continued to meet up over the summer once a week or so, and would go for long walks, or steal bottles of alcohol from their parents and go for drinks in sunny parks or along the canal. One time, they went around a number of muggle pubs in Leeds and got so drunk together that Lorcan could not apparate home to York, and so Libby insisted on sneaking him in (and then out) of her parents house.
Because it had taken so long for either of them to act upon their feelings for each other, and because Libby was routinely astounded that she had managed to pull someone who was so widely considered a catch, she wasn't shocked or particularly bothered that Lorcan had not, strictly, asked her to be his girlfriend. In some ways, Libby found she liked this more, as she felt less pressure and found they could just enjoy each other's company over the summer holidays, and having never had a boyfriend before, she wasn't quite sure if she would be a very good girlfriend. She liked going out to places with him and liked snogging him and sleeping with him, but she wasn't sure if she was particularly romantic, good at commitment or publicly declaring her affections. By the time she went to James Potter's party a week before term began, one which Lorcan had not been invited to, she had almost begun to think that he wouldn't ever ask, and decided that this was probably fine. She had enjoyed the summer, but did wonder if their return to school for their final year would mean things would be different, as they would be surrounded by their friends again, with added responsibilities and the potential for pressure from their friends and other students to put a label on it. She also began to wonder if Lorcan was actually not particularly interested in a relationship with her, and instead viewed her as more of a summer fling. She had said as much to her friends who were in attendance at the party, who had assured her that, she was unlikely to be correct in him losing interest, and not to worry. Nonetheless, Libby had started to worry that she was perhaps kidding herself that she would ever be Lorcan's girlfriend. To her credit, Libby tried not to be particularly upset by it, and said to her friends that even if he didn't ever ask her, she had had a great summer with him and knew they would remain friends, at the very least, when they returned to school and he surely realised he was much too good for her.
Libby had not, in any way, intended to get off with Sirius that night. It was well known that she had had a frankly embarrassing crush on him for four years, however it was also fairly evident that this was no longer the case. In years gone by, she had been unable to speak around him, had gone entirely red whenever he spoke to her, and regularly choked on her meals if they made eye contact at the Gryffindor table. She had been cured in early fourth year, when Sirius had asked her if she would like to visit Hogsmeade with him the coming weekend. In the year or so prior, him and James had calmed the relentless teasing they used to dish out for her crush on him, and so she believed, somewhat naively, that maybe he had changed his mind. Shocked but ecstatic, Libby had blurted out an eager confirmation, and had waited for him outside the school gates on the day. She continued to wait for almost an hour, and he didn't turn up, and she returned to the Gryffindor common room, alone and trying not to cry, and feeling exceptionally stupid. When he returned to the room himself later, he had laughed at her, saying he had heard she waited for an hour before she realised it was a joke. Heartbroken, Libby had stormed off to the girls' dormitory, where she was comforted by Lily, Marlene, Mary and Kath. Although she had lived with these girls for three years, she had only really considered Mary a friend until this point, perhaps Marlene too, at a push, but they rallied around her, assuring her that the cruel incident had not been her fault and ensuring that no one teased her any further. From this point on, the group of five girls became just that: a group. They ignored Sirius for weeks, months in some cases, even when it became frankly inconvenient to do so. Lily was partnered with Sirius for a Care of Magical Creatures project, and refused to talk to him to such an extent that she completed the project entirely alone.
Some time had passed since this incident, and for the most part, it had been forgotten. In their 6th year, the group of Gryffindor girls had begun to get closer to the four Gryffindor boys, with enough time having passed for this to be acceptable. This had begun, in part, due to Lily and Remus becoming closer due to their prefect duties, but also from Marlene, James and Sirius all playing Quidditch for the Gryffindor team. Libby did not mind this - despite how upset she had been at the time, the incident, as she referred to it, came to cure her from her feelings towards Sirius, and she was now under no illusion that he was anything but, essentially, an arrogant twat. In any case, she was someone who much preferred a peaceful life, and valued her friendships and having fun far more than she valued holding a grudge. As the groups got closer, she was not hostile to him, but instead just civilised and polite, preferring to spend time with his three friends, James, Remus and Peter, who she found seemed to like her for her sense of humour and appreciation of their numerous pranks.
So, it was in some ways a combination of the fact that Sirius had made a fool of her once before, and that Lorcan had not asked her to his girlfriend and Libby's resultant convincing herself of his loss of interest in her, that led to Libby snogging Sirius Black. But mostly, it was because she didn't make very good decisions. And it was why, once Libby had provided the details of what happened that night one week prior, Marlene had asked about Lorcan.
"Yeah, this is where it gets tricky." Libby admitted, slowly. "So, the thing is, as you all know, he hadn't asked me to be his girlfriend at that point. And I was absolutely convinced that he wasn't bothered about me, and I was trying not to be arsed about that. But two days later, he asked. He said he didn't want anything to change when we went back to school, and he really liked me."
"So? What did you say?" Lily asked, looking somewhat solemn.
"Well, I said yes." Libby said flatly. "So now I feel like a terrible person."
"You aren't a terrible person." Mary assured her. The rest of the carriage did not look as sure.
"Wait, so you and Lorcan are together? Properly together?" Marlene clarified.
"Yes." Libby and Mary confirmed, Libby still looking glum. She had struggled to sleep
"And you're happy about it?" Marlene checked.
"I'm happy about it, god, I felt like I have spent the last month wanting nothing else, but now I feel like shit about this whole… thing. What am I going to tell him? And if I tell him now, won't he just say I should have told him before?" Libby asked dejectedly.
"Look," Lily began hesitantly, "I don't want anyone jumping down my throat as I suggest this, so just let me finish. And I'm not saying you were right to snog Black, Libby, because you weren't, really, what with you and Lorcan having been seeing each other. But, on a technicality, Lorcan wasn't your boyfriend, and you had just been convincing yourself he was going to end it at school. And really, he had long enough to ask you. Maybe, just maybe, you don't tell him. And we won't tell anyone. And maybe, just maybe, Black won't tell anyone. And that's that."
"Are you alright? Is this definitely Lily Evans, do we know?" Mary asked, alarmed, motioning at the red-headed girl sat by her. Lily sighed.
"I just think, Libby knows she shouldn't have done it. And it didn't mean anything, and Black was a git to her for years. Maybe, we just keep quiet." Lily suggested.
"What do I say to Andrew?" Marlene asked, agitated. "What if I tell him by mistake?"
"For God's sake, Marlene, it won't kill you to keep your mouth closed around Rookwood for once." Mary remarked. Marlene pulled a face.
"Kath? What do you think?"
"I agree with Lily." Kath nodded. "I mean, it was definitely wrong, but you had a wobble and you were convinced he was calling it off - which was thick, of course, but I can see why you did it. Anyway, I like you more than I like Sirius or Lorcan, so I'll keep it quiet and just feel very guilty about it."
"We've even corrupted Kath, I love it." Mary whispered to Marlene and Libby, who as a three were far more devious than Kath or Lily.
"The issue is," Libby began, "What do I do when Black sees me with Lorcan? Nothing?"
"Nothing." Lily confirmed. "The thing with Black is, he's so egotistical he won't be able to comprehend that it's actually Lorcan you want to be with, not him. He'll be absolutely convinced that you're in love with him again, I would imagine, so I seriously doubt he will speak to Lorcan before he speaks to you about it. He'll probably convince himself you're going out with Lorcan to hide your obsession with him. And, in any case, I don't think him and Lorcan have much to do with each other. Also, Black thrives on causing mayhem - you and Black are in the same house, have the same circle of friends - him and Lorcan don't. I think, if anything, he'll want to have fun with it, and hold it over you rather than Lorcan. That would be much more entertaining for him, I imagine. Despite that, I don't think he is callous enough to tell Lorcan just to mess things up for the two of you. He would want to understand what happened."
The girls all looked blankly at her.
"Fuck me, when did you become an expert on Sirius Black?" Mary asked, astounded. Lily rolled her eyes.
"I'm just observant, Mare."
"I knew there was a reason we keep you around, Lil." Libby smiled, kicking her feet up and on to Lily's lap. Lily laughed and shoved Libby's legs off her lap onto the seat, standing up and brushing herself down.
"Are you going somewhere?" Marlene asked.
"Yeah, I've got to go to the Prefect meeting, haven't I?" Lily replied, sorting her bag out. "I'm absolutely bricking it about Head Boy, mind. It isn't Remus, and Ali Malik told me it wasn't him, which means it's either Neil Belby or Severus."
"Hmm, I don't think it's Belby. Andrew would have mentioned." Marlene added. Lily grimaced.
"Exactly. Not to say anything of Belby being useless, so it's unlikely to be him."
Mary shuddered. "I can't see Dumbledore having made Snape Head Boy, though. Dumbledore sees through people, he'll know he's a wrong un." To these words, Lily flinched slightly. She was still sensitive about the betrayal by her former best friend. Noticing this slightly, Libby put her hand on her friend's back.
"Yeah, well. We'll see. I'll let you know." Lily spoke distractedly as she left the carriage.
Just under an hour later, Lily returned into the carriage breathlessly, her long, red hair, flying behind her as she rushed back to her seat. She opened her mouth, as if to speak, and then shut it once again, staring at the ground.
"Lily? Are you alrigh - "
"It wasn't Severus. It was Potter."
"Fuck off." Mary, Marlene and Libby all said, aghast.
"You're joking?" Kath asked. Lily shook her head solemnly.
"Merlin, are you alright?" Marlene asked, jumping up to sit by Lily and put her arm around her. Lily nodded slowly.
"I'm fine. It was just a shock, you know. I wasn't expecting it." The girls all looked at her warily, unsure how to proceed or reassure their close friend. Whilst Lily and James Potter, the new Head Boy, were on much better terms than they had been in previous years, there was still a degree of tension in their relationship owing to a number of factors, that included his role in the ending of her friendship with Severus Snape, his attention-seeking and arrogant ways, and his well documented attraction to her. "I'm not sure what Dumbledore is thinking, really. I don't know how you can reward one of the most notorious troublemakers in the school with the Head Boy role - it discredits it, you know?"
The girls, all scared to disagree with Lily when it concerned James Potter, nodded vigorously.
"The worst bit," she continued, "is he was really bloody good in the meeting. He seemed to be taking it totally seriously, he was really good with how he spoke to the other prefects, and at the end of the meeting he even said he'd make sure he spoke to me later so we can decide how to divvy up all the responsibilities. He didn't take the piss at all."
"That's a good thing?" Kath said, hesitantly. Lily shrugged.
"Yeah, I suppose it is. It's just disarming, you know? I think I'd have felt better about how weird I feel about him being Head Boy if he had been a twat in there, because it would have shown me that I was right, and that Dumbledore has just made some ridiculous mistake. But he was exactly what you'd want a Head Boy to be like. I didn't know he had that side to him." Lily tailed off quietly. Her friends shared a look as Lily looked away. Whilst it was true that James Potter's reputation preceded him, Libby knew that Lily was the only remaining member of the friendship group who was unconvinced that he was anything more than an arrogant, albeit funny, Quidditch obsessed git. Towards the end of sixth year, Libby shared a desk with him in Transfiguration, and found that he was far more intelligent than she had ever given him credit for, and, even more strikingly, kinder. In the first few years of school, James had teased Libby at almost every opportunity for her crush on Sirius, and Libby had steered clear of him for this, and understandably decided he was not particularly nice. She was therefore somewhat perturbed to find out that he was no longer someone who relentlessly and, sometimes cruelly, took the piss. He was helpful and funny, and him and Libby spoke extensively about Quidditch in their lessons. She had come to like him, and felt that it was only a matter of time before Lily did too due to their new working relationship.
"Well, at least it isn't Snape, eh, Lil?" Libby said encouragingly. "How did Snape take it?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, you can imagine. He wouldn't say anything, of course, but he was seething. Just scoffed and made dismissive noises when Potter spoke."
"What did Potter do?" Marlene asked. Lily shrugged again.
"Nothing. Just ignored him."
"You sound almost disappointed?" Kath pointed out. Lily laughed.
"I probably am, I suppose. For all his flaws, it was sort of cathartic when Potter would have a go at Sev. It was like I could live vicariously through him, because I just didn't have it in me to argue with Sev anymore."
The girls, again, shared a surreptitious look. It was unlike Lily to be in anyway supportive of James' behaviour. Distractedly, she pulled out a notebook and started jotting down what appeared to be a plan for patrols, and some scribbles of additional thoughts. Mary looked conspiratorially at the three other girls, and mouthed 'watch this'. Lily now seemed totally absorbed in her planning.
"I saw him on the platform, earlier. He's got better looking, hasn't he?"
"Yeah," Lily concurred softly, not looking up from her notebook, "I noticed that." There was a second of silence, before Lily realised what she had said. Her head bolted up, as her four friends cackled manically.
"You fancy Potter." Libby splurted, rolling onto Mary's shoulder.
"I don't!"
"You do, you just said it." Kath teased.
"I did not SAY I fancy him - "
"Lily, I can't believe you fancy him and didn't tell us." Mary said, putting on a sad expression.
"I was only agreeing with you!" Lily insisted, but, in spite of herself, starting to giggle along with her friends.
"Yes, you agreed with Mary, who said he is fit." Marlene laughed. "So you fancy him."
"Oh yeah, lock me up, I want to shag James Potter senseless and get married to him and have his babies - " Lily drawled sarcastically.
"Bloody hell, shall I come back later?"
In their teasing of Lily and the resultant manic giggling, the girls had not noticed that their carriage door had been slide open by Andrew Rookwood, Marlene's boyfriend. Andrew and Marlene could easily be mistaken for siblings, with both in possession of warm, friendly faces and blonde, sandy hair. Marlene's face was, unlike Andrew's, somewhat deceptive; she could be very fiery and frightening when needed, but generally only deployed this in Quidditch matches or to anyone who wronged her friends. Her Dad, David McKinnon, was a famous Auror, and she had ambitions to follow him into the profession. Andrew, on the other hand, was universally kind and seemingly incapable of malice of any form, and entirely patient with Marlene's more scatty and turbulent nature. They adored each other.
Marlene, still giggling, shook her head, and silently motioned for him to sit down next to her.
"Lily wants to shag James Potter." She informed Andrew, once the giggles subsided. Andrew nodded, as Lily issued noises of disagreement, and sidled closer in to Marlene's side.
"I wondered if the day would ever come." He said thoughtfully, immediately garnering that this was some form of inside joke he had not been privy to but choosing to play along nonetheless. "He's Head Boy, isn't he? Bloody hell, good luck Lily. Might be hard work, that"
Lily gave a sarcastic thumbs up.
The arrival of Andrew had reminded Libby of her deceit of Lorcan, and she felt her stomach churn uncomfortably with guilt once more. She did not particularly relish the idea of Lorcan arriving in the manner that Andrew had, and having to see him for the first time since she had, essentially, cheated on him, in front of a group of people. With this in mind, she stood up suddenly, causing her cat Doris to jump, startled and indignant, off her lap.
"Sorry, Dor." Libby said, giving the cat an absent minded stroke. "I'm going to go see if I can find Billy, I think Mum gave him our money for food, and I'm starving." Libby lied. Billy was her younger brother, a 4th year Hufflepuff, who was very popular in his year and the Seeker for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Libby and Billy had an older brother, Matt, who had left Hogwarts two years ago, having also been in Gryffindor. Like Billy, he was a talented Quidditch player, and was currently on the books for the Wimbourne Wasps as a reserve Seeker. Also like Billy, Matt had been stupidly popular during his time at school, thanks in no part to being exceptionally attractive and Gryffindor Quidditch captain for his last two years of school. Of her friends, it was only Marlene who had not had a prominent crush on her older brother at school.
Saying goodbye to her friends, Libby paced down the corridors in the direction Andrew had come from, assuming that he had been in a carriage with Lorcan. She had only been walking down the train for a minute or two when one of the doors in front of her opened, with Sirius Black walking out almost directly in front of her. Something inside of her plummeted. She had not anticipated what to say to Black if she were to bump into him alone, or prior to him finding out about her and Lorcan - she had been operating on the assumption that he would become aware of her and Lorcan's relationship through the grape vine sooner than she had to face him alone. She decided, on a whim, that she would simply ensure that any conversation prior to her meeting up with Lorcan was kept to a minimum.
"Alright, Mulligan?"
"Alright, Black?"
"How's Evans feeling about James being Head Boy?" Sirius asked casually, leaning nonchalantly against the outside wall of his train carriage, which was occupied by Remus, Peter and James. Libby offered a wave at the three boys, who waved back with amused expressions on their face that made it clear to Libby that Sirius had relayed his own story of the party a week ago to his friends.
"Oh, you know, seven stages of grief. I think she's at denial currently."
Sirius snorted. "Do you want to come in and say hi to the lads?"
Libby hesitated. "Oh, no, that's alright, I'll see them later - I need to find Billy, he's got our money off Mum - "
"How did you feel after last Saturday night?" Sirius interrupted her, a slight smirk crossing his face. She felt a surge of annoyance of herself as she realised how attractive his smug face was.
"Never better, me and Matt did a 10 mile hike." Libby responded, smiling and trying to deflect from the subtext of his question in a way that she knew was obvious.
"Really?"
"No, I threw up in Mary's mum's bathroom."
Sirius laughed. "Rough. And what about - "
"Oi, Libs!"
The two Gryffindors turned to face the origin of the voice, which had come from the direction in which Libby had walked from. Walking towards them, at pace, with his expression, usually calm and serious, clearly delighted to see Libby. Libby, matching his expression, broke into a wide grin as he approached. Instantly, she regretted her thoughts regarding the attractiveness of Sirius Black as she remembered that Lorcan was extremely handsome. And her boyfriend. It was enough to make a 17 year old girl giddy.
Lorcan reached her and enveloped her in a warm embrace. As they pulled away, he gave her a peck on the lips and smiled. She felt herself melt slightly, and tried to ignore the gnawing guilt that plagued at her, the reason for which stood within two metres of them.
"Missed you." He said quietly, reaching out for her hand.
Libby grinned. "Missed you too."
Sirius coughed. Lorcan blinked, clearly having only just noticed Sirius' presence.
"Alright, Black? Sorry, didn't see you there. Good summer?" Lorcan asked pleasantly. Libby did not look at Sirius, willing him not to speak.
"Yeah, not too bad. Shame you didn't come to our party last week, mate."
Lorcan looked back at Sirius quizzically. "I don't think I was invited." Libby found her eyes glued to the floor.
"Ah yeah, that would explain it." Sirius agreed. "I'll leave you two love birds to it, shall I? See you later." Smiling sweetly at Libby and Lorcan, Sirius slipped back into the train carriage.
"Was he being a prick, or have I misunderstood that?" Lorcan said under his breath to Libby. Libby sighed, glancing in the carriage. Sirius had resumed speaking with his friends, unphased by the situation. She looked at him, but he was deep in conversation with Peter.
"Likely being a prick. Ignore it."
"What were you two talking about?" Lorcan asked, reaching out to her hand.
"Oh, nothing." Libby said quickly. Realising that immediately sounded suspicious, she clarified, "Well, not nothing. Potter's been made Head Boy. Lily's in a state of shock. He was asking about how she reacted." Inwardly, she was deeply relieved that the conversation had not had the opportunity to progress further. Nonetheless, she found herself wondering what Sirius had intended to say before Lorcan had appeared; had he been about to bring up the events of the party? And, although Libby did agree with Lily's assessment of Sirius' character, had he not been inclined to bring it up in front of Lorcan? Would he, now that he had figured out they were together? She could feel her throat burning with guilt, and made a note to relay these questions to her friends this evening.
Lorcan snorted. "Yeah. Neil told us. She'll be raging, I imagine. Anyway, let's go find somewhere alone - like I said, I've missed you."
Once Libby and Lorcan had disappeared out of sight from their train carriage, Sirius' friends burst out laughing. Whilst he was sure he would soon see the funny side of the situation, in that moment he felt entirely caught off guard, a feeling which was decidedly unusual for him. It was even stranger for him to find himself caught off guard by the behaviour of Libby Mulligan, who in her interactions with him, was historically very predictable, and in which he had never felt that he was the one leaving confused. In years gone by, she had either been mute, flustered, or both, and more recently had been at worst indifferent, and at best, civil. In any case, he could probably count on one hand the conversations he had had with her that had lasted over a minute in the six years they had known each other. And, sure, he did not possess a history of upstanding behaviour in his own romantic relationships: there had been the time that he had snogged Persephone Cobb at a party when, theoretically, he was seeing Coral Hyde. And then the time he had snogged Coral Hyde when he was, theoretically, seeing Persephone Cobb. And one or two other incidents of a similar ilk. But from his, admittedly limited, knowledge of Libby Mulligan, she was not someone who was known for relaxed approach to her relationships - or, indeed, known for her relationships at all. Beyond recalling seeing her kissing George Halliday at a party two years ago, he couldn't recall hearing of her dating anyone, and he was certain he would be aware of anything Sirius. Sirius knew he should really know better, but he loved a gossip, and was usually the first of his friends to come across any worthwhile social developments.
And so, he was really quite thrown that, one week prior, Libby Mulligan had kissed him and flirted with him relentlessly at a party, when she was evidently in a relatively serious relationship with Lorcan Battersby.
"Is she actually alright? Battersby? I know he's pretty, but god, he's duller than those Flobberworms we looked after in third year." he commented, flicking open a Chocolate Frog disdainfully. On reflection, he had been quite rude to Lorcan, who was perhaps the only one of the three who should have a clear conscience, but he had a smarmy little face and really was a complete bore. James, Remus and Peter had found the whole situation extremely amusing, as Sirius so rarely found himself in a situation where he had been mugged off in any way. Nine times out of ten, he was mugging someone else off.
"You don't need to be jealous." Remus said gently, flicking the page of his book and smirking to himself.
"Yeah, you can't say you didn't have your chance, Padfoot." Peter sniggered. "You had, what, about five years?"
"I'm not jealous." Sirius said, frankly. "I just think it's a bit fucking weird."
"What's weird, Sirius?" Remus said pryingly, enjoying drawing out the amusing nuances of the situation his friend had got himself in.
"It's weird that she couldn't have paid someone to go near her not five minutes ago, and now she's clearly landed Battersby, and he's a bore but he's a good looking bloke, to be fair. So I'm not sure why she's gone and snogged me last week when she's shagging him."
"I've been saying it for years, you're a bad influence and you bring out the worst in people." James said dryly, lobbing an unopened Chocolate Frog at Sirius, who unwrapped it and let it bounce in his hand. "I was a nice lad before I met you. Besides, you've told us about your apparent irresistibility to the opposite sex plenty of times. Maybe this is just case in point."
"I can honestly say I've never known you to be confused as to why someone has snogged you. You're normally very assured about why that has happened," Peter commented.
"Perhaps if you're so bothered," Remus began, with a somewhat reproachful look, "You should speak to Battersby about it."
Sirius snorted dismissively. "I'm not a grass."
"No. To a fault, you are not a grass." Remus agreed. "Still, it's only a matter of time before he finds out, surely. We all know, Libby's mates will know - "
"She might not have said anything." Peter interrupted, looking at Sirius as if to reassure him.
James scoffed. "Pete, have you met those girls? They can't go for a piss without them all knowing."
"True." Peter admitted reluctantly.
"Anyway, we won't be saying anything about it to anyone." James said, in a manner that conveyed that to disagree with him would not be sensible. "Battersby is mates with Neil Corrigan, and Neil Corrigan broke my nose in fifth year because I looked at his girlfriend for too long. We couldn't have that happen to you, your nose is far too pretty."
"What if Marlene tells Rookwood?" Peter asked, his tone now worried by James' suggestion of violence.
"She won't." Sirius deflected, calmly. "They're like us, them lot. If Libby has told them not to say anything, they won't." Whilst he was not particularly concerned about the possibility of a broken nose induced by Neil Corrigan, the thought that the events of last week were unlikely to spread any further than the two friendship groups reassured him. Typically, he enjoyed a bit of gossip and drama, but he was intrigued by the situation and was happy to keep quiet, perhaps even use it to his entertainment by holding it over Libby and her friends. To him, it didn't make sense that Libby, who had been socially ostracised by most students but her own friendship group, would jeopardise a relationship with someone like Lorcan Battersby who was, objectively, a catch. He had also expected her to revert to her previous infatuation with him almost instantaneously, but this had seemingly not been the case, as she had seemed unphased by him, but looked at Lorcan in the train corridor like the sun shone from his arse. Really, he was almost offended.
"I think having to restrain herself from telling anyone else might actually cause MacDonald to explode. She can't keep a secret to save her life. That's the reason everyone knows I fancy Lily, you know?" James said, distractedly letting a Snitch fly away from him, before catching it loosely and repeating the process.
"No, I think you very publicly asking her out on a monthly basis from 3rd to 5th year and showing off routinely in front of her has more to do with it." Sirius replied, grabbing the Snitch as it came towards him.
"No," James stressed, "That wouldn't have happened if I hadn't told Mary I thought she was lovely in Potions at the end of second year. And then Mary told her, and every bugger else, and then I figured that I may as well accept that it was public knowledge and use it to my advantage."
"Using it to your advantage. How did that go for you?" Remus asked sarcastically.
"I think this could be the year I finally ware her down, you know." James said, enthusiastically. "Head Boy and Head Girl, you know? We'll be seeing a lot of each other. Eventually, she'll come round to me."
"I admire your confidence, Prongs, but considering you've been in the same house for six years and she hasn't yet come round to you, I don't know if I see forced proximity being the straw that breaks the camel's back." Sirius drawled. He had watched his friend unsuccessfully pursue Lily Evans for years, and as much as he had faith in him in every other area of his life, he could not quite bring it to encompass this. Lily and James had been on much friendlier terms towards the end of the previous academic year, probably helped by James calming down his more public efforts to win her approval, however she had shown no sign of returning his interests, and seemed unlikely to cave any time soon.
"I'm going to play it cool. You'll see." James said confidently.
Thanks so much for reading! Any reviews or thoughts are much appreciated. I really enjoyed writing this! x