The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Eleven

“I’m sure it will,” Lily said hopefully as Cassie approached the group of boys. “He can’t be all that bad if she likes him and it’s not as if they haven’t done some good things with their time.”

“Not many surely,” Alice smirked.

“Well… he can’t be entirely bad; even Potter has a couple of positive attributes… Don’t you dare tell anyone I said that,” Lily threatened as her eyes strayed over to where he was laughing with Sirius, Remus and Peter, his long legs spread out over the grass and black hair as unruly as ever.

“Of course we won’t,” Alice smiled as a gust of wind blew in through the open oak doors. “It’s a bit chilly here… Should we go up to the common room?”

“Yeah, I don’t think Cass really wants us to watch her grovel on her knees before one of her old enemies,” Mary laughed, “even if we are offering moral support!” With merry giggles bubbling out from behind their hands they watched as Sirius’ hunched shoulders and hostile expression, which managed to combine looking extremely pained with looking as if he wanted a stray fireball to smite Cassie down, change to one which was practically incandescent with happiness.

“Blimey,” Alice breathed, stopping in shock and facing the distant group, “he really does like her. I didn’t believe it was possible but look at that; I have never seen him look like that, not even after a successful prank or a Gryffindor Quidditch win. He’s almost glowing!”

Lily sighed as she watched the four Marauders perk up; Alice was right, Sirius had never looked like that and it was a little irritating. Why should he, one of Potter’s friends, of all people, be the one to realise how fantastic Cassie was; she didn’t begrudge her friend her happiness, if Sirius made her happy then she would put up with him for Cassie’s sake, but the knowledge that she would have to spend time with Potter made her nose wrinkle in disgust. A small part of her subconscious, a tiny voice at the back of her mind, piped up and pointed out that she didn’t hate him and nor did she dislike every aspect of him – some of his heroic antics, though often misplaced, had even merited a reluctant admiration of his talents – and that perhaps her dislike of him was now founded on mere habit rather than any actual wrong that he had done her, but the principle was still there and she would be damned if she didn’t stick to her principles.

All she was able to think about for the rest of that afternoon was Cassie and Sirius’ conversation; she had retreated to the comfort of her favourite book and armchair in one corner of the common room and she hadn’t seen any of the others in a while – she had long ceased to notice anything they did and they had learned years ago not to interrupt her while she was reading. This afternoon, however, she found it peculiarly hard to concentrate on the story and every so often she found her mind wandering to her best friend. She was torn up about it and she found herself wishing rather spitefully, and she hated herself for it, that it had been someone else who had caught Cassie’s attention. Still, she supposed, it had been destined to happen ever since they were second years and she had developed an unrequited crush on the young Master Black – Lily knew as well as the next person that the loves which were never realised were far harder to get over and far more likely to resurface later on. Oh Cassie had never breathed a word of it but even then it was obvious – they weren’t best friends for nothing and she was too easy to read when you knew her well. Perhaps, she thought wryly, that was why Potter still insisted on asking her out even though she had rejected him so many times; perhaps it was the rejection which spurred him on, making him even more eager to finally ‘win her over’. She huffed and returned to her book, trying to calm herself down before the anger that Potter’s arrogance inspired in her could ruin her mood for the rest of the day. She wondered absentmindedly what would happen to her if Cassie and Sirius did start going out; would she be forced to spend more time with Potter? Would she eventually come round and discover that they were actually decent people? She scoffed at this one. No, far more likely that she would finally succeed in convincing them to grow up a bit and actually work for what they wanted, an event which was just as improbable as the former.