Delicate | James Potter

2.17

~

Alice spent her Sunday feeling ridiculously happy. She sat with Dorcas and June all day by the lake, even though it wasn't warm in the slightest. At dinner, she chatted happily to Marlene who didn't mention her unusually sprite mood, but gave her a funny look all the same. The only downside came when it was evening and suddenly she remembered she had potions homework due in the next day that had not been completed in the slighteset.

Even that ended up making her happy, as Remus Lupin volunteered to help her when he saw her stressing about it in the Common Room later that night. She asked him about Sirius too. Maybe it was too personal of a question but it had now been weeks since his birthday when they had apparently kissed and the last Alice heard of it, they weren't even on speaking terms anymore. Remus had turned three shades paler, if that were even an option, and mumbled out some words she couldn't understand.

"Sorry Remus, I didn't mean to pry."

He shook his head. "That's alright."

"No, no, I shouldn't, but you - " Alice paused, wondering whether she was being too personal. "This might sound weird, but you deserve to be happy Remus."

He said nothing.

"I think you think badly of yourself. But you know, no one else does. We all think you're great." She nodded. "Anyway, which ingredient was supposed to come next?"

The essay was complete before midnight had even been reached, and both students were able to retreat to bed much earlier than expected. Alice was quite glad to be up after her friends had already gone to sleep as it meant she could avoid Evangeline, who'd been sending her death threatening looks for weeks now. Instead she was able to slip into her bed with no hassle at all.

Monday went amazingly too; it was as though absolutely nothing could break her happy mood. She did her lessons and attended Quidditch practice and talked to James, which was perhaps the best part, and even had second pudding with June and Dorcas in the kitchens. This, however, ended up with all three girls being giggly beyond compare. They'd had much too much sugar, but the house elves kept offering them more. Laney was there, pushing more and more of her personally baked cookies onto their plates. None of them wanted to offend the poor elves so just kept accepting what they were given, until finally Dorcas proclaimed she would explode if she had even a chocolate chip more.

Alice folded a little origami crane using a napkin and left it on the table for them before they left. The House Elves of Hogwarts were peculiar; they didn't want to be freed. She'd tried before, of course, but it had ended in chaos and tears and so Alice had resorted to leaving them funny little presents instead. Even if they were swept into a bin, she hoped the Elves realised how much they were appreciated.

The castle was dark by the time they'd made it out of the warmth of the Kitchens, curfew definitely long gone. They parted ways shortly after. Dorcas had suggested walking them both back to their common rooms as she had Prefect privilege meaning they were slightly less likely to get into trouble if they got caught. June decided it was more logical for them to split up and each go to their own as soon as possible so they were less likely to get caught at all. In the end, they all went their separate directions in hopes that if Filch were lurking about somewhere, he would not be able to catch them all.