The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

The grounds began to heat up as Hogwarts headed into summer, the sky turning a rich blue above their heads while the sun trailed its golden fingers along the leaves and stems of every plant, dappling the grounds and tinting the castle a buttery yellow. As the weather improved the students migrated outside, forgoing the now stifling warmth of the common rooms in favour of the airy freshness of the grounds as they convinced themselves that they were working while they chatted and laughed under the sun.

“It’s such a glorious day isn’t it?” Lily said, moaning in pleasure as she lay back in the grass, her red hair pooling around her like molten fire.

“I just do not want to work,” Cassie agreed as she gazed at the clouds which scudded across the sky above their heads.

“But if you don’t you’ll fail your exams,” Lily added teasingly.

“Of course, which is exactly why I need you to test me on Potions,” she answered.

“No.”

“Please Lily,” Cassie begged, widening her eyes and attempting to guilt trip Lily into helping her; however it didn’t work.

“What are you doing, you look absolutely ridiculous?” Lily exclaimed mockingly. “Put your ugly face away!”

“She can’t; she always has her ugly face on,” Mary interjected, eliciting a burst of giggling from the gathered girls.

“Oh please Lily!”

“Get Alice to help you; she has the textbook,” she said in reply, gesturing vaguely to where Alice sat poring over the book in question, having claimed that their argument over whether or not McGonagall had a hidden husband secreted away was distracting her from her work.

“I hereby disown you from being my best friend,” Cassie shot over her shoulder as she scooted over to where Alice was sitting and began to talk to her.

“I’ll get over it!” Lily called, receiving only a rude gesture in reply as Cassie flicked her hair over her shoulder. The sunlight filtered through her closed eyelids as she lay back down, the distant murmur of Alice and Cassie’s talking swelling and retreating as it reached her ears like the soothing sound of waves breaking on a beach. The soft warmth, as far away from the chilling winds which whipped around Hogwarts in the winter as possible, seeped into Lily’s very bones and wrapped her in a comforting embrace while Lily slowly succumbed to the lethargy which was stealing along her veins, every limb becoming heavier and heavier.

Suddenly a sharp jab in her side jerked her from her stupor and her eyes flew open.

“What was that for?” she exclaimed without moving apart from to glare at her friends above her.

“Well… you were snoring,” Mary answered with a smirk.

“It was pretty loud,” Cassie added, leaning over Lily so that the ends of her hair just brushed Lily’s face and tickled her.

“Stop it!” she squealed as she batted it away. “And I do not snore!”

“That’s the thing,” Mary continued, pausing for effect, “you really do.”

“Yeah Potter stopped by while you were asleep and even he left when he heard you,” Alice said, the Potions textbook lying forlorn and abandoned under the tree where she had been sitting.

“No he didn’t,” Lily said, her voice a mixture of disbelief and joking.

“He actually did though,” Cassie said, “so there’s a conquest lost.”