The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Christmas drew nearer with every passing day and soon it became rare not to hear snippets of hummed carols while walking the corridors of the castle. Though the majority of the castle became warmer and cheerier as winter drew in, outside the lingering clouds were eager to shed their load, coating the grounds in snow and turning them into a beautiful but dangerous confection. The almost constantly falling snow meant that classes were extremely reluctant to leave for Herbology; students loitered in the warmth for as long as possible before braving the numbing cold, arriving at the greenhouses frozen, out of breath and shaking snowflakes out of their hair and robes. More often than not some unfortunate soul was also wet after having fallen over in the snow as they ran through it in a desperate attempt to avoid the bitter winds. Unfortunately the greenhouses were nearly as cold as just beyond their glass walls and the young Herbologists shivered as they potted various plants, teeth chattering while they hopped from foot to foot in an attempt to keep warm and their breath rose in cloudy puffs every time they spoke or breathed out.

There was nothing better at the end of a long day than entering the almost stifling warmth of Gryffindor Tower, changing out of often soggy robes and into pyjamas before collapsing in front of the fire and Lily took full advantage of this, enjoying it to the utmost as she warmed her feet in front of the fire. Outside night was drawing in, pulling its black blinds across the windows but inside everything was painted in flickering firelight. The almost perfect silence which was once broken only by quiet chatter and the rustle of turning pages was suddenly party to chattering teeth and Lily craned her neck to see who was standing behind her. "Cassie!" she grinned. "How was Quidditch?"

"Cold," her best friend said wryly as the snow which had collected in her hair began to melt and the water droplets threatened to drip down her back. Cassie's cheeks were flushed red and her lips were beginning to turn an alarming shade of blue; it seemed to Lily that an aura of cold hung around her as she held her hands in front of the fire.

"Was it worth it?" she asked curiously. "Do you think you'll beat Slytherin?"

"I certainly hope so," Cassie replied laughingly, "or all of this will have gone to waste and Potter will do us all in!"

"Oh dear," Lily muttered with a cheeky look at Cassie, "we wouldn't want that would we now?"

"Why do I feel like that suggests completely the opposite?" she said teasingly as she retreated from the fire. "It's true; he is quite passionate about Quidditch and it gets rather annoying after a while... Anyway I'm going to go upstairs and change before I freeze to death."

"Good plan, we definitely wouldn't want that!" Lily said mockingly.

"Shut up you," Cassie answered, hitting Lily lightly on the head as she left for their dormitory, leaving a stream of little puddles behind her and tiny blobs of snow melting under the relentless assault of the Gryffindor fires.

Lily headed down to breakfast with Alice and Mary on the morning of their Quidditch match against Slytherin; Cassie had been fast asleep, curled up beneath her pile of blankets, hair spread out around her as she slept. By the time she emerged from Gryffindor Tower Lily had nearly finished reading that day's copy of The Daily Prophet and her abandoned spoon was languishing in her soggy cereal.

"You look cheerful," Alice commented as Cassie sat down beside Lily, deathly pale.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," she muttered, "and I'm really nervous."

"You'll be fine Cass; it's not like it's your first match," Alice replied.

"Yeah but it's against Slytherin. I'm probably going to die," she said, her eyes wide.