Chapter Thirty-Four “ Twice Defied
The rest of Christmas Break flew by. The days were full of laughter, snowball fights, and talking. The nights were mostly spent in the Head’s common room, either lying on the couch or floor before the fire, or in Lily’s room, on her magically expanded bed. Sirius would take on his Animagus form, on which Nikeia loved to sleep. Neither Snuffles nor Sirius minded. Nikeia was also inducted into the Marauderettes. It was in a ceremony just like the last, with Sirius “knighting” Nikeia. Lily made sure to get it all on Sam’s camera.
Sirius and Nikeia got closer; they had been caught cuddling in front of the fire in the Head’s common room more than once. Their evening atop the Astronomy Tower was kept a secret, though Nikeia did mention the attack briefly to her other friends. Sirius’s frown stopped anyone from trying to get more from the recently returned girl.
This certain young woman also spent a good part of her break catching up on her studies. It was exhausting at times, but Lily’s able and kind tutoring, Sirius’s laughter and James’s enthusiasm made it enjoyable for Nikeia.
When classes resumed after the New Year, teachers started piling on the homework to double the amount of before the break. After all, Lily reasoned, NEWTs were coming up soon. Even Sam and Monica noticed the change in their own workload. Sam moped for a while, but Monica seemed to take the expanded workload easily enough. Lily beamed every time she saw Monica drag Sam into a chair and push a book under his nose.
Apart from that, the group of friends also noticed some changes in Frank and Alice. They were a bit more sullen and quiet, and they never left each others’ company. After the last class one day, James and Lily ran to catch up with them.
“Frank! Alice!” called James, coming from behind and cutting off their walk down the hall. Frank and Alice were startled, but obligingly stopped walking. “What’s wrong with you two?”
“Oh, that was subtle!” said Lily sarcastically, punching James’s shoulder. James shrugged. “What he means to ask is: are you two alright?” asked Lily, kindly. “You’ve been awfully down lately. We want to know what’s wrong.”
Frank and Alice looked at each other, and then Frank glanced to the students in the hallway.
“Can we go somewhere else? It’s not really something we want to have overheard.”
“It’s not like you two did something... well, something like sleeping together, did you?” asked a voice from behind Frank. The brown-haired boy jumped and spun around. Sirius was standing there with a suspicious look on his face. Nikeia was standing next to him with a skeptical eyebrow raised.
“See, that is exactly how rumors get started and why we don’t want anyone eavesdropping!” complained Alice, glaring at Sirius.
Remus came up behind the smirking young man and pushed him forward. Frank and Alice stepped apart quickly, effectively eliminating any barrier between Sirius and the floor. Alice chuckled, grabbed Frank’s hand, and walked with James and Lily down the hall. Remus laughed and followed the quartet with Peter chuckling beside him. Sirius pushed himself up with a groan and ran to catch up, his hand in Nikeia’s.
Once they were all comfortable inside the Head’s common room, Frank got right to the point with: “Voldemort attacked us over the break.”
Sirius gasped and fell off his chair, taking his seat partner”Nikeia”with him. Peter, who was leaning against the wall, slipped sideways and fell out of surprise at Frank’s statement and Sirius’s reaction. His hands stopped his collision with the hardwood floor.
“What?” gasped James, sitting straight up in his chair; Lily and Remus did the same.
“Well,” started Alice, clasping her hands together and looking down at them resting on her lap, “My mum wanted to meet Frank”” she blushed” “and since our fathers work together at the Ministry we decided to get together for Christmas. After dinner, we went outside to enjoy the fresh air, just Frank and I, and as we stood in the garden, Voldemort came. There were four Death Eaters with him.”
Peter squirmed, and Lily almost unconsciously mimicked him. She didn’t want to remember her own encounter with the Death Eaters.
“The Death Eaters didn’t do much, just stood there as we dueled Voldemort. It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that much,” admitted Frank, exhaling quickly. James and Lily nodded in understanding. “And yet, somehow, we managed to come out on top.”
“What hexes did you use?” asked James.
“Well, a whole bunch of them, but Amitto spiritus seemed to work particularly well,” admitted Frank.
“Really?” asked James. “The one that makes the lungs loose breath? That’s the one I used.”
“Wait! You used?” cried Alice in surprise. “You dueled Voldemort?”
“Well, yeah,” said Lily, slightly confused. “You didn’t know that? That’s why we were out of classes those few days.”
“Really? Everyone just thought you both had taken sick or something like that,” said Alice.
“No one told you that we had fought Voldemort?” Lily was quite surprised that Remus hadn’t said anything. She looked over to Remus, who correctly interpreted her gaze.
“I didn’t say anything because Dumbledore told us not to tell anyone!” Remus stated defensively.
“But, after we got out of the Hospital Wing, you, Frank, said that this year had be strange so far. If you didn’t know about us dueling with Voldemort, then why did you say that?” asked Lily, stumped.
“Well, because it was true. First, you fall in love with James after loathing him for so long,” chuckled Frank, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
It worked, for everyone chuckled. James even said, “Yeah, that would be categorized as strange.” (Lily punched him.)
“And then,” continued Frank, “Stacey falls in love with Snape and turns Death Eater.” Frank and Alice shivered together. “Then, your parents pass, Stacey dies, Nikeia gets hurt, and Sirius goes into depression.” Frank gestured towards Sirius, who had taken up a spot on the floor, his head in Nikeia’s lap. Sirius glared and Nikeia patted his head gently.
“And now, after I said that it was as strange year, it gets even worse!” exclaimed Frank. “The Marauders start a branch of their group for girls, and Lily becomes one of the first members. Lily! Evans. Lily Evans!” Frank gestured wildly, seeming rather aghast that Lily Evans was one of the first Marauderettes. Lily couldn’t believe it herself sometimes. Nikeia laughed at Lily’s guilty shrug. “Then, Lily and James duel Voldemort, and Alice and I get attacked by Voldemort, and we defy him. It’s all just... strange.” Frank ended his explanation with the action of throwing his hands into the air and letting them smack his legs.
“It has been a weird year,” conceded James, squeezing Lily’s shoulders in a one-armed hug.
“You know what will make it even more strange?” asked Lily, giving a Marauderette Smirk after a short silence. Sirius raised an eyebrow in a silent question. “That this year, the Marauders will study for their exams.”
The said group of men”even Remus”looked at each other, and then groaned simultaneously. Lily laughed in a manner that could almost be called evil.
“Oh, Lily!” cried Alice. “If they study, who’ll offer humor and relief to our dull days spent pouring over old notes?”
Lily shot her a reproving glare. “I’m sure they’ll still conjure up some brilliant scheme to not only get out of studying but also to annoy me and make you laugh.”
“If you’re so sure we’ll get out of it, why even bother trying to make us study?” asked James.
“How can you get out of something you’re not in?” retorted Lily quickly.
The two Marauders most afraid of the idea of studying froze, glanced at each other and attempted numerous times to say something. Lily Smirked. Remus also smiled, but he hid his grin behind his hand. The others in the room chuckled appreciatively.
“Besides,” continued Lily, “This is an important year. These results will shape out future. We can’t get into an of the Ministry posts without passing some of the NEWTs. We should make sure we know the material before it too late, otherwise-”
“Evans!” cried Sirius. “We know. We’ve heard this before. We four always do well on exams. OWLs were easy”NEWTs should be, too.”
Peter stammered, “OWLs weren’t that easy. There were a few tricky things.”
“Yeah, well, Wormtail, that’s just you,” scoffed Sirius.
Nikeia swatted his shoulder. “Be nice. They were tough at times. I was glad that Lily made me study as much as she did.”
“Yeah, well, Nik, that’s just you,” repeated Sirius, avoiding a second punch. Nikeia removed herself from beneath Sirius, and curled up on the couch next to Lily, placing her head in her friend’s lap. Sirius pouted and looked slightly apologetic, especially when Lily began drawing her fingers lazily through Nikeia’s long black hair.
“That’s what you get, Padfoot,” commented Remus. “I would’ve hoped you’d learn to respect formidable young women by now.”
Sirius frowned, and hunkered down into the chair.
“Formidable young women, indeed,” stated James and Frank in unison. They looked pleasantly surprised to speak at the same time.
“Formidable young women who will score better on their NEWTs guaranteed,” boasted Alice. Frank shot her a surprised glance as Lily laughed.
“And what are you planning on doing with your Exceeds Expectations NEWTs, might I ask?” shot James.
Alice blushed slightly. “I plan to follow in my father’s footsteps. Become an Auror.”
“Really?” returned James, looking at her admirably. “You’ll be a benefit for the force, for sure.”
Alice smiled at him. “Frank is going to join me.”
Frank smiled at her, and Lily and Nikeia nearly melted at his expression.
“I reckon he’s going to join you for the rest of your lives,” muttered Nikeia, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Frank and Alice blushed magnificently, but Frank wrapped his arms around Alice protectively and lovingly.
“Aye, and would that be such a bad thing?” whispered Frank into Alice’s ear. She blushed even further, if it was possible, and smiled giddily.
James smiled, and pressed a light kiss to Lily’s temple. She twisted her head to gaze up at him fondly.
“All this lovey-dovey stuff is making me ill,” groused Sirius. “Josey and Antoine are off somewhere doing who-knows-what, Longbottom and Alice here are blushing like apples, Potter and Evans are making sappy eyes at each other… It’s ridi-”
“You’re just jealous that I left you,” shot Nikeia, not sparing him a glance.
She was surprised when he was suddenly standing over her, then scooping her into his arms. As he walked back to his chair, he said, “Darn right, I am.” He sat back down in the chair, with Nikeia spread across his lap. He, too, wrapped his arms protectively around his girl, then treated her to quite a thorough kiss.
James gagged, while Remus rolled his eyes.
Lily mimicked the prefect, then offered the question about the future to Peter and Remus.
Appearing to put the affectionate couple from his thoughts, Remus responded with, “I’m not sure. Being in my… particular position makes finding work tricky and difficult. I’ll just have to wait and see what comes up.”
Peter responded with a similar statement, though he added that he’d probably stay with his parents while he searched for employment.
Remus turned the question on Lily.
“Oh, I thought of being an Auror, also,” she said, snuggling closer to James. “Frank and Alice might not be the only couple on the Auror team next year.”
Remus smiled kindly and nodded. James tightened his hold on Lily.
“We won’t let them get all the fun,” he said, smirking at Frank and Alice.
“Oh, won’t you?” returned Frank, grinning back. The two young men exchanged playfully challenging glances for a moment. Then, Frank looked back over at Sirius and Nikeia. “Well, who’s making sappy eyes now?”
The dark-haired couple pulled away. Their blushes shocked everyone.
“And blushing?” gasped Alice. “Merlin! Is the world ending?”
Sirius pulled the throw pillow from behind him and put it to its natural use”throwing. Unfortunately, Frank stopped it before it could hit Alice.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you…”
“Actually, you would, because I always do stuff like that,” retorted Sirius. Frank’s eyes narrowed.
“Well, Mr. Black, since we’re on the subject of what you’d do… What will you do after school?” asked Alice, tossing the pillow back.
Sirius’s expression clouded momentarily. “Well, I guess I haven’t thought of it too much. Can’t go back home”they’ll toss me back into the street before I can upset our nasty little house elf. An uncle that actually likes me mentioned that he might give me some money. I’ve sent out some inquires about flats to let. Nothing’s come back, what with this war.”
The mention of the war caused everyone to pause for a minute or two. They thought deep thoughts, and if the men held their girls closer, no one said anything of it.
“What do you think will become of it all?” asked Remus. “This war… our world… the people in it…”
His friends could merely shake their heads.
“It’s definitely changed all our lives. It’ll probably change us even more once we’re out there in it,” spoke Nikeia softly.
“I think we’ll just have to wait and see,” said James. “Who knows how long it’ll take, or who will finally end it. How it’ll end… We’ll just stick together, the lot of us. Nothing’ll hurt us that way.”
“Why, James! That was delightfully sentimental!” squealed Nikeia, teasing her best friend’s boyfriend. He merely shot her a glare, before grinning.
“And I meant it.”
A Few Detentions and A Story by LaneTechFreshie
Chapter Notes: Frank and Alice return from winter break with some startling news.
I do have a prophecy to worry about, which is what prompted this chapter…