Chapter One
Plethora of Feelings.

Tabitha swore under her breath as she left the Great Hall. Great, History of Magic. She grimaced at the mere thought of it. She was glad the school year was almost gone–another one of Binns’ lectures on Goblin riots and she’d go insane! Well, she would if she’d manage to stay awake in class for more than ten minutes.

Lily and Ashley were waiting for her at the feet of the marble staircase. The OWLs were taking their toll on everyone in fifth year. Tabitha noted that even Lily, who usually aced her exams with ease, looked tired and in need of some sleep. The enormous and inhumane workload certainly had unexpected effects on people: James Potter, who had been pestering Lily to go out with him for the last couple of months, seemed less relentless. He and his friends hadn’t pulled a prank on anyone since the beginning of May. Studying made the usually light-spirited and cheerful Tabitha moody. If only she had discovered what she wanted to do for the rest of her life a bit earlier. If she had found out she quite liked what Healers did back in February, she wouldn’t have left all the studying till last minute. Now, appalled at the required grades to take the NEWT classes that were required to become a Healer (‘An E in Defence Against the Dark Arts! How am I going to do that?’) and distressed over all the revising she needed to do, Tabitha made her way towards her best friends, disgruntled.

“Cheer up,” said Ashley, the only one Tabitha knew who hadn’t had a nervous breakdown yet. “It’s our last History of Magic lesson!”

“Yeah,” Tabitha said weakly. “I’m so glad I won’t have to listen to Binns go on about the Giant rebellions again.”

Lily shook her head. “You’ll miss it,” she said. “I’m actually thinking of taking it next year.”

Ashley snorted. “You’ll be the only one in class. You must be the only student who actually likes history, Lily.”

"Well, I think it's really interesting," objected Lily, lifting her chin proudly, as they went round a corner and the class was visible. "It's essential to..."

"...know our history to figure out our future," James completed her phrase, wiggling his eyebrows, as they entered the room. "I couldn't agree more, Evans." He winked at Tabitha, who just smirked and shook her head wanly.

There was an unspoken bond between Tabitha and James, separate from their other friendships. James never stopped Sirius from pranking Tabitha, and Tabitha was still loyal to Lily. Tabby did feel that James and Lily would be great together despite their war, however, and that was her common ground with James.

"Stuff it, Potter," quickly hissed Lily, eyeing him venomously. Professor Binns entered the classroom, coming in through the blackboard, as he usually did. He greeted the students unenthusiastically and started the last class before the fifth years sat their OWLs.

The ghost usually ignored the students as he spoke, and didn't really care if they whispered or passed notes to each other. That morning, as every other history lesson they'd had–even if this lesson alone could spare them getting a T in their exam–Tabitha and Ashley were whispering back and forth animatedly, not listening to a single word Professor Binns was saying. Lily, on the other hand, ignoring her friends' muffled giggles, sat up holding her quill, scribbling incessantly, soaking in as much information as she could. Although she already knew, of course, all there was to know about goblin riots.

Behind them, James and Sirius laughed quietly as they looked down at a piece of parchment, in which a small stick figure, holding a strong resemblance to Severus Snape, washed his hair and then melted.

"Aw, come on," whispered Ashley. "Admit it, you fancy MacMillan, don't you?"

"No, Ash. I've already told you: no!" hissed Tabitha, who had been asked the same question by Ashley, every five minutes since the night before.

"Come on!" pleaded Ashley. "Listen, I know he's no Sirius, but–"

"What do you mean he's ‘no Sirius'," snorted Tabitha before Ashley could finish her sentence.

"Oh, you know..." mumbled Ashley, but seeing her friend wasn't following her, she elaborated, "It's not like he's an ugly troll, I mean, he is okay-looking and all, but there are others who are much more attractive than MacMillan."

Tabitha furrowed her brows, knitting them tightly together. "And what does that have to do with Black?"

"Tabby, you know he's good-looking," scoffed Ashley.

"Yeah, okay, but looks have nothing to do with, you know, fancying someone– I mean, of course they do, but I'd rather have someone who's nice and okay-looking, than someone who's a–"
"Sartzetakis!" Professor Binns interrupted her. The students waking up from their daydreams or shameless naps, gaped at him still trying to understand the reason of his rare and sudden burst. Apparently he wasn't ignoring all his students that morning.

Tabitha felt her cheeks flush, turning beet red at an alarming rate. Suddenly, she found herself very interested in the piece of parchment that laid completely untouched before her. She heard James and Sirius snicker as she stuttered, "I'm sorry, Professor."

"You and Miss Dabbs talk far too much during my lessons! Even today which could decide whether you fail or pass your History of Magic OWL," he preached, sounding much more like himself again. "You must know that history is essential to understand our future," he carried on, solemnly. "You two are wasting both of our time. So, Sartzetakis, go sit next to Blake, and Podmore sit between Earley and Dabbs."

Reluctantly, Tabitha took her quills and rolls of parchment and swapped places with James. Sirius opened his mouth, like a fish out of water, as if he wanted to protest, but Tabitha already occupied the chair beside him, eyeing him viciously. She swore under her breath.

For the first time since she was thirteen, Tabitha took notes in History of Magic. "Goblins have fought discrimination and prejudice in the form of rebellions. The goblin riots were most common in the 1600s and 1700s..." And then with an angry thought on the stupidity of going through what they'd already learned in previous exhausting classes, she allowed her mind to trail off, wondering how the goblins in Gringotts managed to get up on the taller chairs.

Sirius eyed her lazily, and continued shooting bits of paper towards James.

"Hey, Tabitha," he drawled. Tabitha just ignored him, as she usually did. "You know what I heard?" he continued and she, likewise, continued to ignore him. "I heard Snape and Natalie Nott snogged."

"So?" replied Tabitha, unable to keep her mouth shut.

"I just thought you'd be pretty jealous, you know, after what happened between you two..."

"You bloody git!"

The previous year, Sirius had decided it would be fun to give Tabitha an end-of-year farewell prank, so he mixed some mild love potion with Tabitha's pumpkin juice. It turned out the potion had been specially brewed to make an effect as soon as she saw...Severus Snape. Even a year later, the memory extracted smiles from the students when they recalled Tabitha's overt love declaration in the middle of the end-of-year feast.

Sirius grinned triumphantly, knowing his remark had hit her hard. Tabitha just frowned. "Why do you do that?" she asked, upset.

"Do what?"

"Annoy me?"

"Hmm. Because I'm bored."

Tabitha sighed exasperatedly and rolled her eyes.

The bell rang, generating sighs both from the students' part (who sighed in relief) and from Professor Binns (who sighed in exasperation). The class was dismissed and as soon as Tabitha collected her things, she jumped off her chair and quickly walked out.

"You know, I'm actually glad Professor Binns made you sit with Sirius," said Lily once she had caught up with her friend in the corridor. Taking notice of the cheeky smile beginning to form on Tabitha's lips, she added, "And, no, not because I got to sit with Potter."

"You know you are happy about it," chirped Tabitha.

"Yeah, I'm happy you paid attention for once, you even took notes!"

"Well, they were only three lines, actually. They still are notes, short notes, but notes nonetheless," she quickly added, noting the incredulous look on Lily's face, who sighed and looked away to conceal a small smile.

"Well, at least you didn't talk so much. Sirius, though, seemed to be paying you a lot of attention." Lily raised her brows and said, "Hey, have you ever thought...nah, forget it, it's silly."

"What?" Tabitha stopped dead in her tracks.

A few steps from where they stood, Marie Abbot and Lucretia Summers, from Hufflepuff, giggled loudly as they disappeared towards the library.

"Lily, tell me!" Tabitha demanded. Lily only mumbled about the amount of time those Hufflepuffs were wasting in giggles. Time which, in Lily's opinion, should be spent sitting quietly studying under the always suspicious eyes of Madam Pince.

"No, really, forget it, it's stupid." Lily began walking again towards the Gryffindor Tower, looking over her shoulder, glaring in the direction Marie and Lucretia had just left.

"Lily..."

Lily winced. "Oh, all right, but don't go all mental on me, okay?" Tabitha nodded. "Okay, er, have you ever thought maybe Black...likes you?"

"Merlin!" Tabitha exclaimed, throwing her hands to the air. "I can't believe that was what you were going to ask me!"

"Wait, let me explain."Lily chuckled. It was extremely comical how Tabitha got all worked up when people suggested that she and Sirius Black felt anything except hatred for each other. "You know how little boys tease girls just to get their attention? Well, maybe it's the same with Sirius, after all he's a–"

"Bubotubers," Tabitha said. The Fat Lady took her eyes from a glass she was holding, looked at the two girls contemptuously and swung open with a loud, "Hmph!"

"Anyway, Tabby, don't think much about it, it's just a silly theory."

"As if I was going to even think about it," snorted Tabitha. "I have already forgotten about it, as a matter of fact."

Lily smiled. "Anyway, we need to revise." She sighed, dropping her bag on a table near one of the common room's windows.

"Aw." Tabitha grudgingly placed her bag next to Lily's and looked outside the tall window. "But it's such a beautiful day!"

"Well, I supposed we could revise outside."

Before Tabitha had the opportunity to change her delighted expression at the thought of dozing under the sun, Lily added, "But then, I guess we'd be distracted by the infinite charms of Black and Potter."

Tabitha grumbled, rolling her eyes. "You just have to make my day miserable, don’t you?" She peeked through the window to confirm the Marauders were indeed outside.

"Why, yes, I take my duties as a day-ruining prefect very seriously," Lily teased. Both girls laughed as they sat down and prepared themselves to face a long afternoon of revising for their Defence Against the Dark Arts exam, the following Monday. Tabitha sneezed fiercely as a ray of sunlight came in through the open window.

"Put your jumper on, Tabby, or you'll catch a cold."

Tabitha checked her bag, but remembered that with the weather becoming increasingly warm, she had left her jumper in a messy pile inside her trunk upstairs in the girls' dormitories. Too lazy to stand up and move all the way upstairs, and confident that her sneeze was merely caused by sunlight or allergies, she shrugged off the thought of falling ill. "Nah, I'm fine,"

"You'll catch a cold," repeated Lily, absent-minded, already submerged into her DADA book.

The following Monday, Tabitha, tissue in hand, and the rest of the fifth years sat on the Great Hall, their heads bent above their parchments as they scribbled down the answers to the DADA paper.

Tabitha had just finished re-reading her answers when Professor Flitwick exclaimed, "Time is up!" And with a flick of his wand summoned the parchments. They flew towards him, knocking him over. A few of students sitting on the front rows helped him get up and collected the parchments lying scattered around the tiny wizard.

Tabitha rolled her eyes when she saw Viola Fawcett staring at Sirius Black's back hopefully.

"How did you do?" asked Lily as Tabitha joined them down the aisle.

"Um, not bad, I guess," she sniffed, wiping her nose with a handkerchief.

"I thought it was easy," boasted Ashley.

"Yeah," agreed Cara. "But I'm not sure I got all the signs right in the werewolves question."

"Well, nothing we can do about it now," reasoned Ashley, stretching her long arms. "Let's go to the lake, the day is gorgeous!"

"Let's," said Cara pompously. She and Ashley walked away together giggling, singing some silly song. Lily, still pondering her answers, and Tabitha, wiping her nose incessantly, followed them.

In the entrance hall, Peeves aimed a fat water balloon at Tabitha, prepared to throw it straight to her head, but luckily, Lily's nagging and yells of, "I'll tell Filch!" affected the poltergeist's concentration, and the water balloon soared past Tabitha's ear.

"Seriously!" boomed Lily, annoyed. "She's ill!"

"I'm not ill."

They stepped out into the dazzling sunlight bathing the school grounds.

"Now, you're just being childish. You are ill–and you look positively dreadful, if I may add."

"Fine. But I'm not admitting you told me to get my jumper."

Lily laughed loudly, and even though she didn't say it, she couldn't help to think, ‘I told you so.'

As both girls approached the lake they spotted, among the numerous students, the Marauders sitting under the cool shade of the beech tree near the edge of the lake. Tabitha, already feeling miserable enough, decided to ignore them, thinking it was not worth ruining her day by reminding herself about the many reasons for which she despised Sirius Black.

Lily fumed once she saw James Potter playing with what from distance seemed only a gold glimmer, but which she recognized as a golden snitch. "He probably stole that!" she scoffed indignantly. She and Tabitha passed the mischief-makers by and reached the glimmering surface of the lake, where Ashley and Cara were already dipping their toes into the cool water. Lily took off her shoes and socks, ready to follow her friends' example. Tabitha was about to do the same, but before she could finish removing her long socks, Lily objected.

"Oh no, you wont! You're sick enough, Tabby, we still have Transfiguration and Potions tomorrow!"

Tabitha scowled, looking around at the other girls, searching for support, but Cara and Ashley merely nodded in agreement. Tabitha pulled her socks up again, and stumbled on the grass, mumbling quietly.

Ashley hopped about in the water, splashing them. They giggled as she began dancing in a way that resembled an ungraceful chimpanzee. Their laughter was interrupted when Lily suddenly got out of the water to take a better look at what was going on by some shrubs, near the beech tree. Tabitha got up and looked curiously over Lily's shoulder at someone (she guessed Severus Snape) crumpled on the ground vomiting foam. James and Sirius stood before him grinning as a crowd of students quickly gathered around them to watch the spectacle.

"Those two are really disgusting," hissed Lily.

"I don't get why you defend Snape so much, Lils," piped Cara. "You know he isn't all goodie-goodie either, calling some people mu—”

"Mudbloods, I know. But he's my friend, I won't stand here and do nothing!" Lily stormed into the boys' direction.

"Aw, Lily, not again! It's not worth it!" Tabitha yelled behind her.

---

Lily walked in the entrance hall boiling with anger. Peeves ventured to float above her. Lily petrified him without even bothering to look up. She stomped her way up the stairs, avoiding the trick step, and quickly walked towards the Gryffindor Tower, her enraged emerald eyes shooting daggers at whoever she encountered on her way.

"Bubotubers," she barked at the Fat Lady. Offended, the Fat Lady eyed her venomously before letting her in and proved to be especially nasty to Tabitha, who had run behind Lily (after telling James off) and came in a few minutes later, breathless, through the portrait hole.

Lily was pacing around the common room with her arms crossed and biting her lower lip. signs indicating the magnitude of Lily's anger. She sputtered "Potter" and "bloody git" and "the nerve!" randomly.

"Lily," wheezed Tabitha, still recovering from the long run. "A-are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Lily snapped. "I just can't believe that bloody Potter, humiliating me in front of everyone! And Severus, that ungrateful idiot! I won't bother next time, Tabby, even if he is hanging upside down naked!"

Tabitha giggled. "Oh, please do if that's the case. It's not something I–or anyone wants to see."

Lily smiled weakly. "Yeah, you're right," she murmured.

"Hey, I've got some chocolate left from our last trip to Hogsmeade. Would that make you feel better?"

"Yes. Though, revising for Transfiguration would be best."

Tabitha sighed wearily; her head was beginning to ache. "Okay," she groaned. "But only because you're my best friend."

---

Tabitha had fallen asleep while studying on the table beside the window. After what seemed to her only five minutes, she was woken up by giggles. Feeling nauseated and undeniably ill, she lifted her head from her arms and faced a considerably large group of Gryffindors gathered around her. Alarmed, she sat up and scowled at them, making some of the first years squirm nervously. She was about to interrogate a scrawny-looking third year boy when Lily came running down the stairs and broke through the crowd of spectators in her pyjamas.

"Tabby." She winced. "I thought you said you'd go up in a bit."

Confused, Tabitha looked at the watch hanging from a thin chain from Alice Archer's neck and realised it was already past ten. She had come to the common room soon after dinner to revise some more for the Ancient Runes exam the following day but fell asleep.

"Oh, sorry about that. What are you lot staring at?" she barked, noticing that all eyes were still fixed on her.

"Um, we better go to bed," Lily said, grabbing Tabitha by her arm, pulling her up. "Get to bed, everyone!" she boomed, uncannily resembling Professor McGonagall.

Lily dragged Tabitha's arm upstairs to the dormitory. Ashley had woken up from all the hustle going on downstairs. She suffocated a fit of giggles with her pillow.

Tabitha frowned at her friend's reaction. Lily quickly opened her trunk. After rummaging through it for only a few seconds (her trunk was very tidy), she took out a small, ordinary mirror, and holding her breath, held it up in front of Tabitha.

A blood-curdling scream resounded through Gryffindor Tower, and upon hearing it, instead of feeling their blood turn cold in fright, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter looked at each other from their respective beds and sniggered. Mischief managed.

The following morning, an annoyed, sick and green-haired Tabitha walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. As she passed the Marauders by, James and Sirius choked on their pumpkin juice, while Remus (after meditating upon what they've done), hidden behind a book, shook his head in shame.

"Nice hair," cackled Sirius. "Very radioactive."

Tabitha scowled at him, feeling too ill to bark some venomous insult at him. She passed them by feeling downright miserable. By her side, Ashley patted her back soothingly as they sat down.

Professor McGonagall, who was walking in the opposite direction, stopped dead in her tracks behind Tabitha and stammered, "Oh." Then, pursing her lips and glancing over Tabitha's green head, at the Marauders, she casually added, "Black, Potter, I'll see you two later in my office. And go see Madam Pomfrey, Miss Specks, she ought to have a look at that cold of yours."

---

By the end of term, everything seemed to be going back to normal. With the OWLs done and no pressure left, the students could enjoy the warm days in the grounds, but Tabitha noted Lily was nowhere near the lively, vibrant girl she had been before she and Snape stopped talking to each other. But her spirits improved in time; well, at least she wasn’t extremely moody anymore. She seemed resigned that she and her Severus had parted ways. Tabitha’s hair was still green, but Lily had successfully managed to counter the Marauders' charm, so that it didn't glow in the dark anymore, a thing that was greatly appreciated by her roommates who were glad they could finally sleep with no light at all.

"Don't worry," said Cara, as the four girls walked down the path leading to the carriages. "It'll wear off in a few weeks. My cousin jinxed Pietro's hair bubble gum pink once, it was hilarious." Tabitha cast her a murderous look. "Sorry," Cara added quickly.

"I can't believe it's the summer holidays already. Next year it's sixth year, then seventh, and that's it," Lily reflected.

"Yeah, great, isn't it?" exclaimed Ashley. "I'm done with school, it's so boring."

"Oh, yeah?" inquired Lily, raising one eyebrow. "And what are you going to do after boring school is over?"

"I've already talked about it with McGonagall," Ashley said, alluding to the vocational advice given by the Head of House a few weeks earlier. "I'm gonna work as a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts. McGonagall said it was an appropriate option for me, since I'm outstanding in Arithmancy."

Tabitha just rolled her eyes. She adored Ashley, but the girl had a bit of an ego problem, a big ego problem. Tabitha pouted. "It's insane to expect us to decide what we want to do for the rest of our lives at the tender age of sixteen!"

Her friends laughed. Cara sighed. "I talked to Professor Sprout and told her I wanted to care for magical creatures. She just sounded surprised. Guess she wasn't expecting I would want to tame Peruvian Vipertooths."

"I'm with Tabby on this one, I still don't know what I want to do," Lily said, shrugging, as she and her friends got off the carriages and began making their way to the Hogwarts Express. "Can't decide, there are too many things I like."

"I bet McGonagall was like ‘Oh, anything, Miss Evans, you can be absolutely anything you want to be!'" said Ashley. "Hey, you could always go after a job in the Muggle-Worthy Excuses Committee. Your excuses would probably be a lot more believable than the ones those dimwits come up with."

The girls laughed as they began the usual search for an empty compartment. James and his friends caught up with them. "I think Lily would be great at any job," he piped from behind Lily's shoulder. His eyes gleamed cheekily. "But she'd definitely excel as a mother to my children!"

"Potter!" roared Lily, stomping hard on James' left foot. "How dare you even speak to me!"

"Ow, I thought you'd forgotten about the whole incident by the lake," whined James, clutching his sore foot. "Thought you had gone back to desiring me."

With a quick movement, Lily slapped James' face, leaving a livid red imprint of her delicate hand on his cheek.

"I guess you haven't." James winced. Lily's hair swished as she turned her back to him and walked away. Ashley, Cara and Tabitha followed her, giggling.

"She wants me,” James said smugly.

---

Chapter Two
Chances

James woke up, startled by a sudden and loud noise on his window. He scrambled out of bed quickly, without even looking for his glasses, and listened. The night was dead-quiet, only disturbed by the rustle of the leaves or by an occasional cricket. He scratched the back of his head, confused. There was not even a trace of the loud banging sound that had brusquely woken him up. Had it all been just a part of a dream? He couldn’t even remember what he was dreaming, or if he was dreaming at all.

“I must be going mental,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head.

With a sigh, James climbed back into his bed and buried his face on his pillow, moving it from side to side, trying to find some comfortable position, just as sleep took over him again the sound came again. CLUNK!

There it was again, something had definitely hit his window pane. Cautiously, James turned around, grabbing his glasses and put them on. He walked slowly to the window and peered outside. There was not a sound to be heard, but James could distinguish there was someone standing beneath his window. James smiled.

Forgetting it was past midnight and that his parents were sleeping and wouldn’t be much pleased if he disturbed their sleep by accidentally breaking something, James rushed down the stairs to the front door, ruffling his hair before opening up.

“Took you long enough.” James grinned. “I nearly thought you weren’t coming!”

“I nearly didn’t,” Sirius replied sombrely.

“What?” James’s grin faded slowly. “Why? What happened?”

“Mind if I tell you once I’m inside?”

“Oh.” James moved aside, realising he was practically blocking his friend’s way in. “Sure.”

Sirius picked his trunk and lifted it with a grunt. “Care to help, Prongs?”

James apologised and grabbed one of the handles at once. As they dragged it inside, the trunk made a monotonous sweeping sort of noise. “You know,” said James, closing the door behind him. “I would’ve been a lot more diligent if it wasn’t after midnight.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Sirius said softly, casting his eyes downwards, staring vacantly at the Potter’s chessboard tiles.

“Hey, Padfoot,” chuckled James. “I was only joking, cheer up!”

At this, Sirius laughed bitterly. “I’m afraid that won’t be happening anytime soon.”

James observed his friend cautiously. Sirius was usually in a good mood when he arrived at James’ house for the holidays, especially because he was glad to be away from his pure-blood obsessed family, but now Sirius seemed miserable. “Something wrong?” James asked.

Sirius let out another mirthless chuckle. “Yeah,” he said simply, drowning them in silence again.

“Care to elaborate?”

Sirius sighed. “Let’s go somewhere,” he said out of the blue. “Let’s go outside.”

“But we’ve just only come inside. See?” joked James. Sirius eyed him darkly. “Let me get my jacket.”

James hurried upstairs to his room, questions swarming his mind, fetched the first jacket he saw rumpled inside his wardrobe and grabbed his precious broom carefully, before Sirius and he, quietly, made their way into a small shed in the backyard where James took out a spare broom he always kept for Sirius’ use when they played Quidditch over the holidays.

A soft breeze rumpled their hair as they moved further away from the Potter’s home and reached the very end of the backyard where they were secluded from prying eyes by dense and tall trees. Sirius and he mounted their brooms and exchanging glances, they both kicked hard on the ground, soaring into the air. The night was still warm, despite how late it was and the cool breeze felt soothing against James’ face as he flew upwards alongside Sirius. After flying for a little over fifteen minutes, they reached a small and half- forgotten bridge just outside London. Sirius landed on it first and dismounted, followed by James, who sat beside him, water ran undisturbed beneath their dangling feet, the city around them asleep.

“I left home,” said Sirius, abruptly. “I ran away, picked up all the stuff I could and left. For good.”

James didn’t know what to say. He knew Sirius was unhappy at his parents’ house, that he couldn’t stand Mr and Mrs Black’s pure-blood fanaticism...why was this making Sirius miserable? “Er,” James mumbled after a few seconds. “That’s great.”

Sirius scoffed. “Yeah, right, for me it is,” he said. “But what about Regulus...who’s going to tell him that anything that comes out my parents’ mouths is bollocks? Now he’s lost for sure, isn’t he? I don’t have a home or money anymore. I’m in deep, mate. My only choice is to go back to good ol’ mum, tail between my legs, begging for forgiveness, until I find a place to live.”

James turned around to face his friend. “Well, then you won’t have to go back at all.”

“I’m not following...”

James smiled, standing up. “Let’s go home, we’ll talk things over tomorrow after my mum has cooked us a hearty English breakfast.”

Sirius’ eyes met James’ as he comprehended what he had just implied. “I...thanks,” he said with certain difficulty. For a moment James feared Sirius was about to cry and he took a mental note to tease him about it afterwards.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll always have a place in my home.”

---

James hesitated on how to finish his letter. He had thought writing something like ‘Truly yours’ but Sirius, after teasing him on how sappy that sounded, suggested it would probably annoy Lily. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed and decided to sign his letter just like the previous one: Cheers, James Potter.

James got up from his chair and walked towards his owl, Winifred’s, cage. The owl extended his leg almost mechanically so that James could wrap the letter around it. “Take this to Lily,” he instructed unnecessarily. Winifred had been delivering letters to Lily almost exclusively for the past two weeks.

The owl hooted in exasperation as James opened the window and quickly flew out before his owner could remind him, once again, where the Evans lived.

James sighed miserably and slumped on his chair in a defeated manner. Thirty seconds, and twenty-five sighs later, Sirius snapped, “Mate, why don’t you just tell her?”

James scowled at him.

“Look, if you don’t tell her, how do you expect her to know? I’m afraid not everybody possesses the inner eye!” he quipped, imitating Professor Grimsby, their Divination teacher.

“You mean, telling her again? Like last year, Padfoot? Yeah, that worked bloody brilliantly, didn’t it?” said James, his tone dripping sarcasm.

“Right. Forgot about that,” Sirius apologised, remembering how upset James had been at the end of the previous year, after Lily said she’d rather go out with the giant squid. Still, the thought of James being rejected for a squid was quite comical.

“I’m never going to get her, mate,” James whined.

“Come on, Prongs. You could have any girl at Hogwarts, why does it have to be Evans?” Sirius grumbled. “Lucretia Summers is kind of good looking.”

“And she went out with Peter.”

“Details, just details!” assured Sirius, patting a fuming James on the head. “Hmm, let me think....” James sighed impatiently as his friend mentally recounted the girls he’d been involved with. “Oh, I know, there’s this girl, a Hufflepuff, you know curly hair, pretty face...”

“Abbot? Marie Abbot?” inquired James raising his eyebrows in amusement.

“Yeah, oh...wait, no, I went out with her.” Sirius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Don’t worry about it, Prongs, we’ll solve this.”

James rolled his eyes, starting to feel slightly frustrated. “I want Evans!” he bellowed.

“Chill out, Prongs,” cackled Sirius.

“I’m serious, Padfoot,” growled James.

“Anyway,” said Sirius, continuing with the subject of James’ obsession. “You’re friends with Tabitha, aren’t you?”

James smiled. Yes, he was friends with Tabitha, but it hadn’t been like that until their third year at Hogwarts, and it had taken a Potions assignment gone very wrong followed by a month of detention to get them to be friends. Soon enough, Remus and Peter, were friends with her too, but Sirius was a whole different matter. Ever since first year, he and Tabitha had loathed each other, so much that each time Sirius talked about her, his face contorted slightly and his left eye twitched involuntarily. “Yes, so?” continued James.

“So? Think, Prongs, think. Who’s Tabitha’s—” Sirius’ lips stretched into a thin line. “—best friend?”

“Er, Evans, I guess.”

“Evans!” exclaimed Sirius. “So if she’s your future bride’s best friend—”

“She can hook us up?” asked James with fake enthusiasm. “As if I hadn’t tried that before. Tabby has tried—”

“What did you just call her?” Sirius groaned.

“Er, Tabby?”

“Please call her Tabitha, or better yet, refer to her as she when you’re with me, thank you very much.”

James burst into laughter, and Sirius frowned, pretending to be gravely offended. “What’s so funny, you dimwit?” he scoffed.

“I just don’t get why you hate each other so much.” James chuckled. “She’s a great girl, you know.”Sirius snorted in response. “She is!”

“She’s the one who started it...remember first year?”

“You were eleven! Let it go already, that happened four years ago, Padfoot.”

“Learn your numbers Prongs, that happened five years ago,” corrected Sirius.

“See?” James insisted.

“No, Prongs, I don’t see anything...or anyone.” Sirius smiled mischievously. “Maybe you have a temperature, let me see...” He touched James forehead.

“I mean, don’t you see?” continued James, slapping Sirius’ hand away. “You think about Tabby–er, I mean, her– an awful lot, you even have the years counted.” He paused, thinking. “You like her, don’t you?”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Now I’m sure you have a temperature,” he snorted. “Yeah, right, I love her, and Snivellus is my new best mate.” He grimaced at that last thought. “Look, I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually fancy girls who want me dead.”

“Don’t exaggerate,” said James.

“Exaggerate?” Sirius echoed, looking at his friend in outrage. “She nearly drowned me in pumpkin juice last year!”

“Well, you did turn her hair green...”

“I could take that kind of crap from pretty girls,” Sirius continued, pretending he had not heard James, but James knew him all too well to be certain he had. “Well, for a while, anyway.”

“And?”

“And, Tabitha is not pretty. I mean, she’s not a troll, she could resemble Snape-- god, that would be awful-- but she’s just a girl, with a lousy personality, who I wouldn’t look at twice, James.”

“Tabby’s all right and, trust me, you’d love her if you knew her,” James tried to reason. “But anyway, I was only joking.” He smiled. “So, care for some one-on-one Quidditch?”

---

Dear Lily,

Hello! How have you been? How’s your summer so far? Mine’s been incredibly, extremely and completely...dull. That’s life in a cruise, boring! Really, Lily, it’s awful...but I guess the weather’s nice, and the food is quite good, too!

It could be worse though. I’m happy to say, I’m more than 5000 miles away (okay maybe not, but far anyway) from that conceited twit -and no, I don’t mean Black this time- Broderick. He’s that arrogant, pure-blood idiot I told you about before. I swear I sleep better at night knowing I’m far, far away from him. Of course, mommy dearest still insists he’s a good ‘suitor’ and reminds me every day how pleasant, good-mannered and handsome that plonker is. She even implied that if she wasn’t married to my dad, she’d shag Broderick senseless! No, I’m joking (freaked you out there, didn’t I?) but she made sure to let me know she found him yummy... I don’t know what goes on in that woman’s head!

This cruise will end with my death, I swear. I’ll slowly die of boredom. Lily? Write back okay? Soon please? Before I go mad or throw myself into the ocean!

Hugs,
Tabitha.

PS: I got my OWLs yesterday...I got an E in Defence Against the Dark arts!

Lily finished reading Tabitha’s letter with a huge smile on her face. She had laughed out loud several times, making Petunia, who has painting her nails in the kitchen, jump out of her chair a good five times before she stomped out, livid, and shut herself in her bedroom.

Lily’s summer had been uneventful, but she was used to that and wasn’t really bothered by it. She had sent owls to her friends, read novels and ate chocolate bars, just like the previous summer. She had gone to the cinema a couple of times and when her OWL results arrived, she’d gone out to a fancy restaurant with her parents and Petunia to celebrate. She actually felt rather sorry for Tabitha. Under regular circumstances, Lily would’ve been jealous—sailing away on crystal clear waters wasn’t something to complain about—but Tabitha was stuck on a ship full with snobby, smug wizards. They were all representatives from foreign Ministries of Magic attending a summit, organized by Tabitha’s father, who worked in the Department of International Magical Co-operation. But snobby wizards were like a girly slumber party compared to Mrs Specks. To say Tabitha and her mum didn’t get along was an understatement. Mrs Specks, like many other wizards and witches, was fixated on blood status and badgered Tabitha constantly, assuring her that happiness could only be found in a good marriage. That is, marrying into a wealthy pure-blood family.

As Tabitha’s best friend, Lily felt compelled to do something.

Dear Tabby, she wrote.

Hello, Lily’s here to save your day, like always. I’ve asked my mum if you could come over till school starts and, after much begging from my part (no, you know she and Dad adore you), she said you could! So pack your bags and get your arse over here! Oh, but do ask your mother first, we don’t want her reporting you as a missing child. We definitely don’t want that happening again.

In other news, my summer’s been good. I mean, besides the fights and bickering with Petunia (who is dating someone, a real person!), it’s been quite a normal summer. I’ve written to Ashley, but she hasn’t replied yet. I’ve also written to Remus Lupin, who tries to convince me Potter is a ‘decent bloke’, but I think he’s not quite sure of that himself. And speaking of Potter, that twat wrote me just two nights ago, and no, I didn’t and will not answer his letter.

Lily took out her ink and dipped her quill in it. A tiny drop fell to the parchment, expanding into a small black circle.

And don’t go ‘oh, give him a chance Lily’, she continued,because that won’t happen any time soon! I hate him! Even more after what happened last year! Even thinking about it makes me grumpy, so I better stop. So, anyway, ask your mum if you can stay here, and write back soon! You have to come, Tabby. We’ll have a blast, and you’ll meet Petunia’s Vernon (her boyfriend), such a sweet, delicate man. Beg your mum if it’s necessary!
Hugs, Lily.

Lily reread her letter and quickly added a postscript: Congratulations on your grade! See? All that studying did pay off.

---

Lily opened the door and she was nearly knocked down by Tabitha, who had lunged herself at the redhead almost desperately.

“Lily, it’s so good to see you!” squealed Tabitha, hugging Lily tightly. “Thanks for saving me.”

“Tabitha,” Lily reproached her. “Your mother isn’t that bad....”

“Right,” Tabitha laughed as she put down her heavy luggage. Lily cocked her head and observed her friend fixedly. “What? Do I have something on my face?” asked Tabitha, noticing Lily’s eyes were anchored on her. “I was eating some chocolate frogs on the way here...”

“No,” retorted a smiling Lily.

Just then, Lily’s mum, a strong looking woman with brown eyes and fierce red hair, came in beaming as she approached Tabitha. “Oh my, how much you’ve grown!” She hugged Tabby and then stepping backwards to take a better look at Tabitha, she said, “You’re very pretty, my dear, and very tan. Have fun on your holidays?”

“Hmm,” thought Tabitha. “Not really.”

“Pity,” Mrs. Evans said, nodding knowingly. “Well, you better go unpack. Dinner will be ready in no time.”

The girls went up the stairs into Lily’s room, and once inside it, opened Tabitha’s trunk at once, staring at the mess inside it for a few a seconds before they began unpacking. “So,” chimed Lily, as she rummaged through several robes, extracting from the bottom a pile of books held together tightly by a leather belt.

“So?” Tabitha repeated, giving her friend a quizzical stare.

“Er, you’re pretty,” observed Lily, wondering if Tabitha didn’t already know this or simply chose to ignore it.

“Oh?” she said with a hint of indignation in her tone.

“It’s not like you weren’t pretty before, Tabby, it’s just that you look, I don’t know, different,” Lily clarified.

Tabitha chuckled. “I don’t know, it just sort of happened,” she said. “And Lily, I wasn’t pretty before and I know that, so don’t worry.”

“You’ve always been cute!” protested Lily, in disagreement.

“I was ugly, and fat...”

“You were not fat! Just not twig skinny,” noted Lily. “But you were definitely not ugly!”

“Lily, my eyes were too big, my nose too flat, and I had a fringe that I just don’t dare remember for fear of throwing up.”

“Nonsense, you were adorable! Really, you were one of the cutest kids I ever saw.”

“Lily...”

“You were always cute,” Lily insisted. “I’ve always thought so. Mark my words, Tabby, even that dimwit Sirius will be drooling all over you!”

“Who?”

“Sirius, Sirius Black?”

“Please refer to him as Black, or better yet only as he.” Lily looked at her puzzled, fearing for her mental sanity, but before she could ask her friend about this peculiar request, Tabitha said, “Speaking about men...” Tabitha smirked. “What about James?”

Lily rolled her eyes. Her friend could be very persistent when she felt like it. If only she’d put as much dedication to her studies as she had done to getting Lily and James together, she wouldn’t suffer nervous breakdowns by the end of every term. Unfortunately for Lily, Tabitha had the rare talent of persisting and ultimately achieving her original goal.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about Potter,” Lily admitted, proving her friend’s success. “I still think he’s an arrogant, self-absorbed idiot, especially since what happened last year with Sev–” Lily paused, “Snape.”

Tabitha sighed. Lily knew her friend didn’t understand why she was so fond of Severus Snape. She had tried to explain Tabitha why she had befriended him in the first place, but Tabitha saw no sense in it. To Tabitha, Snape was a quiet student who hated everyone with no reason and befriended people only if they were useful to him. Once they stopped being useful, he discarded them, just like he had done with Lily, Tabitha had told her, concluding that Lily was simply too kind and blind to see what kind of friend Snape was.

“Don’t even want to remember,” gagged Tabitha, as mental images of Snape, hanging from his ankles as if held by an invisible hand, with his underwear on display, threatened to invade her head.

“Anyway,” continued Lily. “I figured there’s always the chance that Potter grows up and acts his age, not like an eight year old.” Tabitha grinned guessing where her friend’s speech was going. “And since I’m not bitter, and willing to leave the past behind, I’ve decided to give him a chance.”

“Really?” asked Tabitha excitedly.

“Yeah, only as friends and only if he proves he’s changed,” Lily warned.

“You won’t regret it, Lily. James is a great guy, you’ll be amazed,” asserted Tabitha, confidently.

Sometimes Lily felt as though James was a shabby product Tabitha had to persuade her into buying. She smiled doubtfully. Was he a great guy? Half regretting her decision to give him a chance, Lily thought that James was still quite arrogant. Pranking people here and there, just because he could, as if people where props for his entertainment. Would a great guy, as Tabitha had claimed James was, play a prank so cruel to a person who hadn’t done anything to annoy him, except existing? He’d been doing things like that since first year, why would he change this time? People can change, she reminded herself. She knew this from first hand experience. Friends could change, even those who you thought would last forever could become enemies in the blink of an eye. Besides, his letters were rather nice.