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 goneâ“another one of Binnsâ lectures on Goblin riots and sheâd go insane! Well, she would if sheâd 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 hadnât 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 wouldnât 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 (âAn E in Defence Against the Dark Arts! How am I going to do that?â) and distressed over all the revising she needed to do, Tabitha made her way towards her best friends, disgruntled.
âCheer up,â said Ashley, the only one Tabitha knew who hadnât had a nervous breakdown yet. âItâs our last History of Magic lesson!â
âYeah,â Tabitha said weakly. âIâm so glad I wonât have to listen to Binns go on about the Giant rebellions again.â
Lily shook her head. âYouâll miss it,â she said. âIâm actually thinking of taking it next year.â
Ashley snorted. âYouâll be the only one in class. You must be the only student who actually likes history, Lily.â
"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 hadâ“even if this lesson alone could spare them getting a T in their examâ“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, butâ“"
"What do you mean he's âno 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 someoneâ“ I mean, of course they do, but I'd rather have someone who's nice and okay-looking, than someone who's aâ“"
"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 aâ“"
"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, donât 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 illâ“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, âI 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 muâ”â
"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 Iâ“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 wasnât extremely moody anymore. She seemed resigned that she and her Severus had parted ways. Tabithaâs 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 âOh, 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,â James said smugly.
I Solemnly Swear by Mila Zakharov
Story Notes:
Warning are mainly for later chapters, they are very subtle and kept to a minimun.
Chapter Notes: I would like to say thank you to my two, lovely beta-readers, Laura and Joanna for their constant, understanding help :)
Also, this is the only chapter tha will be set during the Marauder's fifth year, the following chapters will follow them through their sixth and seventh year.
And lastly, I hope you enjoy this!
Chapter Endnotes: Thank you for reading!