~
The sun rose slowly over the castle, spreading warmth over the grounds. It revealed the scraggly half giant, Rubeus Hagrid, talking to a few centaurs at the edge of the forest.
“Yeh know wha’ Dumbledore wants, Bane. Anythin’ suspicious, it would be best ‘ter let ‘im know. He says there’s a-goin’ ‘ter be a war soon.”
Bane and his companion nodded solemnly. “We know of the headmaster’s predictions. He must be seeing how red Venus is looking this month, and interpreted it rightly.”
Hagrid continued, “Does that mean that, er…”
Bane nodded, “You have our services.” The centaurs galloped into the woods swiftly without another word, and Hagrid made his way up to the castle to report to Dumbledore.
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Lily, Alex, Sirius, and James had decided to walk around Hogsmeade together. Alex was looking rather unkempt, but was making an effort to be like her old self. Sirius glanced at her anxiously every few minutes, as if he were afraid she would break down at any time. Alex was pointedly ignoring this. James was simply yelling to everyone they passed that he knew. And some witches he didn’t. Very blonde, very tall, very pretty witches. Lily found this to be funny, as they would always roll their eyes at him. But it also disturbed her. More than she would have liked.
Perhaps most amusing, though, was when he whistled at a platinum blonde with her back to them. Lily saw her back stiffen as she turned to glare at him. Lily was the only one in her group that didn’t flee as the blonde showed her face, until Alex grabbed her arm, and urged her on. Quickly. It wasn’t until they were inside a shop and well out of range that she managed to ask, “What was that all about?”
Alex could only shake her head, as she was barely stifling her laughter. Sirius turned and lightly punched James’s arm. His lighthearted tone didn’t mask the look of sickness on his face. “You think Malfoy’s mom is hot?”
James ran into the bathroom, and Lily could hear a faint sound of retching. James still looked ill as he came out. “I think I need a firewhisky. A big one.”
Lily glared at him. “Just because you suffered a severe trauma doesn’t mean you can bend the rules.”
Alex piped in, “But we are supposed to meet Peter at the Three Broomsticks.”
Sirius laughed. “Yeah, he says he has a date. I’ve got to see this.”
They made their way to the popular pub (being sure to avoid the street they came from).
The Three Broomsticks was noisy and crowded. They pushed their way through the throng of people. Lily felt like she was suffocating. She heard James yell back to them (he was leading the group), and she saw what he was pointing at. Peter was standing on a chair, waving his arms. They slowly made their way over, and saw that Peter had already gotten their drinks.
Alex whispered in Lily’s ear, “This should be interesting. Do you think he actually got a date?”
Lily sniggered, though she tried not to.
James finally broke them through the crowd, and Lily felt Alex grow stiff. “Not. Happening.” Lily heard her whisper. And Lily knew why. Stephanie Robins was staring at Sirius, sitting next to an oblivious Peter. Also not noticing anything, James sat down next to Peter. Lily threw a glance at Sirius. Maybe it was a male thing, but he didn’t seem to see anything weird about the situation, either. He must not have, because he slid into the seat next to Stephanie, and motioned to Alex to sit on his other side. She did, But with a very strained face. Despite her concern for Alex, Lily had to smile. This certainly was going to be interesting.
Then she quickly panicked. The only seat left was between her best friend… and James. The others were looking at her expectantly. Alex seemed to be saying, ‘If I have to suffer, than so do you.’ Lily quickly stuttered, “Er… I think I’ll go get the drinks.”
Alex smirked. This was just what she’d been waiting for. “Lily, we already have the drinks. Have a seat!”
Lily shot her a glare, but did as she said.
Stephanie was already inching her way towards Sirius. Alex was not pleased. “So Stephanie, what classes are you taking this year?”
Stephanie stopped moving her chair, and said in a sickly sweet voice, “Please… call me Steph.” She threw a ‘seductive’ look at Sirius, who was actually busy chugging his butterbeer. Peter frowned. Seeing that her obvious gesture had failed, ‘Steph’ continued, “I’m taking Ancient Runes, and the basic classes.”
Nearing the end of their Hogsmeade, visit, Lily felt slightly nauseated. Steph continued to laugh shrilly whenever Sirius let out a side crack, and found every excuse to touch him on the arm. Sirius began to catch on, and looked quite uncomfortable. Peter looked angry and humiliated as he watched his date flirt with one of his best friends. ‘I should have known. She wouldn’t even listen to my story about the ghost that tried to kill me. She only asked about Sirius.’
James, on the other hand, found the whole situation highly amusing. He stopped downing mugs of butterbeer after his seventh glass, and had a bet with himself on who would storm out first- Alex or Peter.
Steph’s chair was now almost touching Sirius’s, who was looking around wildly for an excuse to get away. He couldn’t find one, so did the first thing he could think of. Alex let out a little gasp as Sirius picked her up and placed her on his knee, between him and Steph, who looked very put out. Alex, however, looked almost smug, and did her best to hide her boyfriend from view.
Steph looked as if she was about to saw something particularly nasty and cutting when two more people joined their table. Alice’s cheeks were pink with the cold. Frank sat down in Alex’s abandoned chair, and Alice sat on his knee.
“Where were you?” Lily asked.
Alice and Frank answered at the same time- “Around.” “The usual.”- and started laughing as if they shared some private joke.
James and Lily just looked confused, but Alex and Sirius were too 'involved in each other' to notice, much to Steph’s horror.
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Author’s Notes:
So, I thought their lives should get back to as normal as they can be. So sue me. Some fluff was definitely lacking in the last few chapters, so I thought I’d write a little something!
As for answering reviews, I DO answer all e-mails, if you want to take the extra time (after you review on the site, of course, so I can show my mom that people actually DO read my story, they DO like it-I hope- and I SHOULD be allowed to continue it).