On the Way to Lunch
The tension was almost tangible. James and Sirius repeatedly glared at each other. They were only walking together because Remus and Gwen insisted on it. Sirius had his arm protectively around Lily, and Tara held James close to her while glaring daggers at Sirius. Remus and Gwen were holding hands in between the two “couples” trying to create conversation. Peter stood next to Sirius and Lily, but he would often awkwardly move to be next to James and Tara.
“So...what’d you guys think of Potions today?” asked Gwen hopefully.
After a long, very intense silence, Remus answered, “Slughorn wasn’t very fair when he gave your potion an ‘E.’ It deserved an ‘O.’” The group rounded a corner, and Peter moved to stand next to James and Tara.
“Thanks,” said Gwen flatly. She gave him a curt look.
“It did,” said Remus matter-of-factly.
“I don’t care,” said Gwen. She threw her hands up in agitation. “He can give me a ‘D’ if he feels like it.” The couple rejoined hands.
“But you deserve better,” pressed Remus.
“Maybe I should botch the next potion, just to show you that I don’t care!” said Gwen.
“I just want what’s best for you,” said Remus with an earnest nod.
“Whatever,” murmured Gwen. She stared at her feet with pursed lips.
Tara stuck her head out pass James and looked over to Gwen. “Gwen, you should be appreciative that your boyfriend care so much about you. James cares about me, obviously, but I have an ex-boyfriend who didn’t care about me,” said Tara loudly.
“I did care about you. You were just too stupid to notice what was right in front of you!” replied Sirius angrily.
“The only stupid thing here is your face!” retorted Tara.
“The only stupid thing not here is your mum!” retaliated Sirius.
James put his arms around Tara quickly to restrain her from attacking Sirius, who was smirking. Lily looked from the boy on her arm, then to her best friend, then back again. Peter was watching Tara and Sirius fearfully while inching towards Remus.
“Could you guys please stop fighting?” asked Lily desperately as she shrugged Sirius’ arm off.
“You just want to protect your little boyfriend,” sneered James. He let go of Tara, who stormed over to Sirius and continued their argument loudly. Lily strode angrily to James.
“At least I’m in a real relationship. You’re just going out with Tara to make me jealous!” said Lily.
“You can’t possibly like Sirius!” said James heatedly. He brought his face closer to Lily’s.
“Maybe I do!” shouted Lily.
Both arguments were reaching shouting points. Gwen, having reached her breaking point, lifted her head and rounded on Remus. Peter backed away from the feuds slowly.
“Look what you did!” she said as she let go of his hand.
“What I did? You’re the one who tried to start small talk!” shouted Remus.
“You answered me!” Gwen shouted back. Their faces inched closer.
“You answered back!” Again, their faces were brought ever closer.
“Because I didn’t want to look stupid!”
“You do that without trying,” muttered Remus.
“What?” asked Gwen dangerously. She took a step back and put her hands on her hips.
“I said you look stupid without trying!”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah!”
“Fine! We’re breaking up! Come on, Lily!” said a fuming Gwen.
The other two arguments stopped when they heard Gwen’s voice rise above them all. Tara and Sirius’ faces were inches from each other’s, and Lily’s index finger was almost touching James’ nose. Lily brought her hand down, dusted herself off, and walked to Sirius, who put his arm around her.
“I need to stay with my boyfriend,” said Lily, the emphasis directed at James.
“Okay, then, come on, Tara!” said Gwen.
Tara walked coolly away from Sirius and Lily and towards James. She put an arm around his waist, and he put a strong arm around her shoulders. “I need to stay with my boyfriend.”
“Fine!” shouted Gwen, obviously frustrated. After a moment’s hesitation she said, “Come on, Peter!”
Peter, who had thus far managed to stay out of the war going on around him, winced when he heard his name. Gwen grabbed his hand and began dragging him to the Great Hall. He tripped as she gave a rather forceful tug and started ranting about how awful Remus was.
“Come on, Lily,” said Sirius. He steered her toward the Great Hall.
“Let’s go,” said Tara. Once Sirius and Lily had gone in, Tara, James, and Remus began walking towards it. Tara and James grabbed hands just before entering.
Lily and Sirius had just sat down with Gwen and Peter near the entrance. The groups exchanged glares as James, Tara, and Remus walked past. James’ hand squeezed Tara’s, and Sirius snaked his arm around Lily’s waist.
James, Tara, and Remus sat at the other end of the Gryffindor table. As they ate they discreetly glanced at the others. Sirius saw this and leaned in to whisper to Lily.
“I’m going to whisper random things into your ear. When I’m done, giggle like I just complimented you,” he breathed into her ear.
Lily giggled girlishly, then leaned back in to whisper, “How was that?”
Sirius chuckled, then whispered, “Perfect.”
Lily giggled again, then settled back into Sirius’ chest. He laid his head on hers and stroked her red hair. She risked a glance down the table and saw James attempting to bend his fork with his thumb out of anger. Tara placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. She took the fork from him gently, scooped up a piece of shepherd’s pie, and put it in his mouth. He smiled with the fork still in his mouth, which caused Tara to laugh obnoxiously. Sirius cupped Lily’s face with his hands in retaliation. Lily ran her fingers through Sirius’ long black hair.
By the end of lunch, every living (and nonliving) being in the school knew that “Potter’s girl Lily Evans,” was with “that troublesome bloke Sirius Black”, “James Potter the Gryffindor Chaser” was with “Black’s last girlfriend Tara Samuels”, and “that quiet fellow Remus Lupin,” had broken up with his girlfriend, “that know-it-all Guinevere Reynolds.”