Blood Status || Marauders Era

Chapter 66|| After

It was finally the last day at Hogwarts, in June, and there had been so much going on since the fiasco that happened with Snape, James and Lily. There were many rumours going around, spread even by people that were present at the scene, and it wasn't helping that Fabian and Gideon were going around yelling that James had nearly killed a man. Make way for a murderer. The only thing that could be done by everyone else was to laugh it off.

There had been many accusations about why Remus didn't try to stop people cursing each other, not doing his duty as a Prefect. They were somewhat right, Lily did try and stop it but, that wasn't because she was a Prefect, it was because she was Snape's friend. Notice the use of was his friend, currently, she had gone a whole month without speaking to him, and I felt that it was deserved.

After what he had called her, Lily not talking to Snape was the best thing that could happen. I was astounded when she first told me they were still friends at the beginning of the year, especially since he started to hang around with Mulciber and Lestrange more. I was even more shocked however, when she told me they were friends before Hogwarts, so it was quite the surprise to hear that he called her a Mudblood.

But moving on from Lily and Snape's friendship, I was contemplating over what to do for the summer, I knew that James and his parents would always be welcoming to me, but I felt like a burden, surely they wanted time together for at least one summer as a family. I also knew that Sirius wouldn't be at the Potter's this summer, he was going to be with his parents and younger brother, trying to 'sort things out'.

"Hey girls, what are you doing for this summer?" I asked them one night, trying to gather as many ideas as I could. Lily gave me a detailed summary of how she wanted to be with her sister and this Muggle boy she knew that lived across from her was coming home, he too went to a 'private school'. Aafiya was spending it with her family, so was Alice - but she also had Frank and his mother to meet, and Mary was going to the Bahamas with her parents.

Finally, there was Marlene, I didn't get a straight answer out of her, or at least one that made sense. She mumbled and went on about her family and her siblings (she had four older brothers) and how she didn't really care what she did over the summer. I had figured from a long rant a while ago, and pieces I had gathered since then, that Marlene was constantly competing and unhappy with her family and home life.

Marlene's first brother, Mason, was a Prefect, the second, Mitchell, was Quidditch Captain in Ravenclaw, the third, Matthew, had top scores in both examinations and went on to work in the Ministry, and he was also friends with the current Minister of Magic. Finally, there was her final brother, Maxwell who was Head Boy, in the Quidditch team, had all O's and E's, and he had never had a detention in his life. 

She had big boots to fill, according to her parents.

"Why, what do you want to do Athena?" Alice asked me, glancing at Marlene, and I was glad of the subject change. In all honesty, I had no idea what I wanted to do, I didn't want to go back home, I'd honestly had enough, maybe I would go home to get the rest of my things, and then, my plan was muddled. I wasn't legally old enough in the magical world so there would be no point. I'm sure people would take me in but I'd be a burden.

After contemplating, I just shrugged, I had no idea where to go for my holiday's, I'd also already told James that I had other plans, I don't know why but I felt that another year in the Potter Manor and they might get sick of me, then I'd really have nowhere to go. "Lily Evans, someone's at the portrait hole, waiting to talk to you," Natasha Rogers said. We hadn't really spoken much since our first loss of the Quidditch Cup in four years.

We came second but that was irrelevant, especially to James who probably cried himself to sleep. "Who is it?" Lily asked but Natasha said she didn't know who he was, just some Slytherin boy. I immediately knew who it was and so, it seemed, did the other girls. "Don't go to him, you deserve more than an apology after what he said to you," Aafiya told the red head, she was also quite insulted by the grease's comment. "At least hear him out Lils," Alice reasoned.

"I'm not trying to be rude Alice but are you mental? Snape called her a horrible word and he basically threw years of friendship down the drain, just to look cool in front of the other people there. He deserves to stay outside, wondering whether Lily will forgive him for eternity. The cheek he has to stand outside our common room, come on Marls, let's tell him to piss off," Mary ranted. I had to agree with her.

"Why are you shouting Macdonald?" Sirius asked. He was walking down his dormitory stairs with Remus behind him, carrying what looked like a cloak and their funny Map that they showed me months ago. "Never mind that," Mary bristled, "where are you two off to?" She had just asked what I was about to, I was curious as to where they were going without Peter and James in tow. Sirius just laughed suspiciously and jaunted, "Never you mind." 

The two boys stepped out of the portrait hole and there was a sudden yelp of surprise. I laughed, they must have found Snape stood out there. "What are you doing?!" two voices spoke at the same time. The girls descended into giggles, I could only imagine a funny scene with the two pointing at each other in shock, one trying to intimidate the other but neither would tell their true purpose. "Piss of Black," Snape said. 

"You're the one in front of my common room Snappy."

I heard a noise coming from the boys dorm rooms and I saw Peter and James rushing down the stairs together, as James asked me, "Have you seen the other two?" I nodded but didn't let any more on, instead, I asked them, "Why? What are you lot doing?" He was going to pester me for where they went, I was sure of it, but I got there first, Peter said, "We're playing a huge game of Hide and Seek, us two are it."

I whispered to them, "You won't find them, they have the cloak and the map." James said a word loudly that made Lily shout at him and then apologise to some small first years who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the colourful language. Marlene stood up and said, "Can we play too?" Lily tried to object to this statement but even Aafiya wanted to play, it was our last day in fifth year after all, we'd get our results from the OWLs soon, and we wouldn't have time for fun.

James and Peter agreed and the two gave us five minutes to run out of the common room and anywhere in the castle in just five minutes. We had to be in pairs so we didn't get too lost, even after five years there were still many untold passages, I was with Lily which was a shame as she grumbled during the first two minutes of trying to run and find a spot, but then she brightened up, remembering something, and then it seemed to go smoothly.

"I found a small corridor that is hardly used, it's behind a tapestry so I don't think anyone else knows about it, I found it by chance that one time on the seventh floor," Lily told me. With that, we both jogged up to the seventh floor as and as Lily tried to find the corridor, she frowned, "I swear it was here last time, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas." As she said that, I spotted a small door to my left.

"Is it this?" I asked her, as she turned to face the door, she became confused, she told me how she'd found a tapestry not a door but nevertheless, we both walked inside and found a small room, fitting to no longer than three people and it had two small chairs inside, both with cushions on them, a little oil lamp hanging from one of the walls, giving the room a cosy glow. 

I had never seen this room before, even after walking on the seventh floor and past this specific spot many times, I had never seen this room, or the door, ever. It was like it was truly magical, even with it being a castle full of magical potential, this room popped up when we really needed it. The only sounds I heard was a noise outside with Sirius saying, "They showed up here a moment ago."