Dwelling on Dreams (A Marauders Fan Fic)

James and Lily

The common room looked amazing; streamers, banners and Zonko’s Portable Spider Webs were hung from every wall and all of the chairs and sofas looked like they had been drenched with blood. Candles floated in every corner, giving the room an eerie glow as the Gryffindors entered, their gasps filling the room.

“It looks amazing Lily!” grinned Cassie as she hugged her best friend, both of them dressed as vampires in floor length black dresses. “How did you manage to do all this without me ever noticing?”

“You’re not very observant Cass!” Lily laughed as Sirius, James, Lupin and Peter joined them, Sirius wrapping his arms around Cassie’s waist.

“Hello-o!” he whispered in Cassie’s ear, his breath tickling it and making her laugh before she kissed him quickly in greeting.

“Hello my future wife,” James said to Lily teasingly, who blushed and giggled, a small smile crossing her face as he hugged her.

“Would you like a drink?” Sirius murmured to Cassie later, taking her hand and leading her away from their group of friends to where they had set up a refreshments table. Sirius took two pumpkin juices and gave one to Cassie who smiled at him gratefully.

“Thanks, I was getting really hot.”

“Shall we go outside quickly? Get some fresh air?” Sirius suggested before they left the common room. Just outside the portrait hole they almost ran into a couple of fifth years kissing; turning left they headed for one of the classrooms, the noise of the party fading into the distance as they walked down the corridor.

“In here?” Sirius asked as he pushed open the door. “Oh Merlin sorry!” he cried, seeing Alice and Frank sitting on one of the desks. “Ok, let’s go,” he muttered, shutting the door behind him quickly. They ignored the next couple of classrooms for fear of a repeat of what had just happened, knocking on the door before they entered another.

The classroom was dark inside, lit only by the faint light of the stars which shone in through the window and illuminated their way, the desks and chairs a number of darker spots in the gloom of the room. They made their way over to one of the desks and sat down, Sirius wrapping his arm around Cassie and burying his nose in her hair as he sat beside her.

“Lily’s really outdone herself this time,” she said, “the party was amazing.”

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed. “Yeah it was.”

“And she actually managed to cooperate with James for once!” Cassie cackled, her laugh echoing around the deserted room as Sirius joined in.

“Prongs has it so bad!” he smirked as he thought about James and his infatuation with Lily.

“I know,” Cassie smiled, “but I have to admit I’m surprised they managed to organise a party together without killing each other.”

“Prongs would never do anything to annoy Evans on purpose; I think the danger there was her killing him. He’s useless against her; he’d just stand there and smile.”

Cassie laughed again. “True, true. She is a rather formidable opponent as well. Try never to be on the receiving end of one of her hexes because they’re torture. She made my ears twitch for a week in second year.”

“She made your ears twitch?” he asked incredulously.

“Don’t laugh, it really hurt! And she left it for a week! It felt so strange!” Cassie cried, hitting Sirius playfully as he snorted at her. Suddenly they heard the door creak as it drifted ajar and Sirius and Cassie stopped talking instantly.

“James! Cassie will be looking for me!” they heard Lily say from the corridor, her voice floating towards them through the darkness.

“No she won’t,” he replied, “she left with Padfoot; we have ages.”