Crystal Clear | REGULUS BLACK //

1.26 End of the Fifth Year

Later that day the group was gathered for dinner at the Great Hall. Crystal sat by them as they had much to talk about: all of them would leave Hogwarts the next day for the summer break. Pretty much everyone was anxious, taking care of unfinished things and preparing for the trip.

The Marauders were chatting about a variety of subjects, but Crystal, Sirius and Remus were abnormally quiet. Sirius was the only one from the three that was trying to behave normally, but something was off. James and Peter were the ones doing most of the talk.

"Come on, guys. What happened this time?" Peter turned to the three, who were sitting all on the same side.

"Are you sad because you're not seeing your parents this summer, Crys?" James pondered.

"It's not that." She shook her head silently.

"Damn. I'll miss you guys." Remus whispered, looking a bit sad.

Crystal looked at his direction, then back at James. She never thought what happened with Remus during the summer break - in the years before, she just thought he had a normal summer, but now she knew he was a werewolf and thus his summer was definitely not normal.

"Look, Moony." She smiled sweetly at him. "I know I'm not one to give advice here and I'm also gonna be staying with James, but I think his mother wouldn't be against you and Peter visiting."

"What about the full moon?" He seemed worried.

"Well, you don't have to stay the whole summer. Just enough for you to not feel lonely." She smiled, then faced James. "Are you with me, brother?"

James nodded silently as he was munching a piece of bread.

"Man, I miss aunt's pies." Crystal pondered, looking upwards for a second. "Do you think she'll make some for summer?"

"Probably. And you'll be there. We both know that mom and dad like you." James smiled, then kept biting his food.

"Crystal." Sirius' voice appeared out of nowhere, he had been quiet while James and Crystal talked. "What did Regulus want with you?"

Crystal widened her eyes for a second, then looked at her friend.

"We reconciled." She sighed deeply. "He came to talk to me, because Balthazar went berserk on him, too."

"Did you report that ass to Dumbledore?" James added.

"Yep, I did." Crystal smiled as she spoke.

"Don't you think he might call you that again?" Remus asked, genuinely curious.

"It's like a second chance." She seemed to get lost within her thoughts. "We were such good friends, in our way, but we were. And Balthazar just broke it all. I'm just glad that it's solved now."

"I was a bit startled by it when I saw you guys." Sirius said, his face a bit more serious than it should be.

Remus exchanged a glance to Peter and James, but all of them kept quiet.

"There's nothing to be worried about. He's harmless." Crystal said, her voice was nonchalant. "Except if you add his skills with DADA and just Dark Arts in general."

Remus facepalmed.

"Alright, I agree. He's not harmless."

"What the heck, Crys." Remus shook his head as he spoke.

"Let her be, guys. If they were friends they must have felt awful during the lie period of the other guy." James added again, tilting his head.

"But we're all alright now! And after our summer all of you will be in your seventh year and learning lots of stuff and..." She corrected herself within her thoughts. "Making a lot of mischief."

The whole group smiled and kept eating their food. After a long period of silence, James seemed to choke on his food when he saw Lily and she waved at him and smiled. All of his friends eyes were on him and they were just waiting for the right time to start the teasing.

"I'll send her an owl. I'll ask her for a date." He said, as if in a bit of a trance, his eyes gleaming towards her.

"Go for it." Sirius laughed.

"I just hope we'll finally have some peace in this summer."

The other four agreed.