December 3rd – Great Hall
The seven friends were sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating and chatting between themselves. Tony's birthday was the next day, and they were all trying to agree on what to do.
Despite being Nephera's friend and so he was quite popular, the Ravenclaw never liked to host big parties for his birthday, simply wanting to gather his friends and get drunk together.
"What about Hogsmead?" asked James "It's Friday tomorrow, classes end early."
"How are we getting to Hogsmead exactly, there's no carriages." Pointed out Ellie
"You underestimate us, Puff," said Sirius "You really think we wouldn't have found a way?"
"Leaving behind the slightly ominous tone of that sentence," drawled Peter, bringing a laugh out of Tony and Nephera "How about we go to that muggle village, about two hours out of Hogsmead?"
"Oh yes, I've grown tired of Hogsmead after six years," exclaimed Ellie "And I've heard that there's an awesome club there,"
"Club?" asked Nephera, having no connection with the muggle world whatsoever
"It's nice, you'll like it." Replied Tony "I say we go to the village for a couple of drinks."
The rest of them agreed, leaving how they would actually get to the village for later, and went back to eating their breakfast. That is, until James spotted a familiar head of red hair walking into the Great Hall.
"Lily-Flower, care to go out with me during the Hogsmead trip?" he said, a wide grin on his face and a hopeful look in his eyes
"And why on earth would I go out with your arrogant ass?" snarled Lily, before turning around and sitting a few seats away from them, with Marlene and Alice
The Gryffindor's face fell immediately, and his hopeful expression turned into an absolutely miserable one. Nephera, who was sitting opposite him, felt her blood boil at how crestfallen the curly-haired boy looked. He really did care for the redhead, even though she had treated him like nothing more than a stain in the back of her shoe. The Slytherin had noticed, however, that despite the red head's cruel treatment of James, he had started to grow on her, if the laughter she tried to conceal whenever he made a joke was any indication. So, even though she knew that James could find someone much better than Lily, she stood up and made her way towards the redhead.
"Nephie where are you-" asked James, seeing his friend stand up
"Don't worry about it," she shrugged
Marlene saw the Slytherin approaching them, and nudged Lily and Alice, gesturing towards the brunette coming towards them. Lily looked at her friends with a questioning and slightly alarmed look on her face, Marlene mirroring the same expression. Alice, however, simply shrugged The pixie-haired witch had always been the more understanding of the three of them, and she had spoken to Ellie a few times too. Because of the short interactions she had with the Hufflepuff, she had come to the conclusion that Ellie was a sweet girl, and so Nephera couldn't be so bad either, since the two were best friends.
"Evans, we need to talk." Said Nephera with a roll of her eyes, not wanting to spend any time with the Gryffindor, but willing to do so for the sake of her friend
"Why?" asked Lily, recoiling in her seat slightly
"Don't ask so many questions, we just need to talk."
"She's not going anywhere with you," spat Marlene, staring at the Slytherin with disgust
"McKinnon, I suggest you go talk to Meadowes and leave me and Evans here to chat."
"How do you-" started Marlene, her eyes widening and her face paling
The crush the blonde Gryffindor had on Dorcas Meadowes was one of her best-kept secrets since she didn't know whether she returned her feelings or not. So, the fact that the Slytherin somehow knew about it, set her on edge like nothing ever had.
"I know everything." Deadpanned Nephera "And she likes you too, so go talk to her and leave me to talk to Evans. Now."
With an apologetic look sent towards Lily, Marlene got up and walked to where Dorcas was sitting, and sat next to her awkwardly, not knowing how to begin the conversation. Nephera took Marlene's seat next to the redhead, and sighed before she began talking.
"Look, Evans. I don't like you, at all." She started
"No shit Winchester, neither do I. So why are you here, exactly?"
"Don't interrupt me." Stated Nephera, reminding herself why she was there in the first place in order to not leave the table "For whatever the reason, James has managed to worm his way into my life and become one of the most important people in it. Now, do I think he deserves better than you? Yes. Do I think you're a bitch that treats him like shit? Absolutely."
"What, exactly, is the point of this conversation?" interrupted Lily again "Apart from insulting me, that is."
"Well if you'd stop interrupting me, you'd find out. You want James to stop asking you out, and I want James to stop getting hurt over your sorry ass, so I have a plan to help you."
Lily exchanged a look with Alice, who was listening to the conversation intently, before turning back to the Slytherin, "Go on," she said
"Go on a date with him." Deadpanned Nephera
"What?" exclaimed Lily, her eyes widening "Did Potter put you up to this?"
"You should know by now that no one puts me up to anything. Now listen," continued the brunette "Go on a date with him, and act horribly. Not to James, but in general. Wear shit clothes, be indecisive about everything, whine your way through it. That way, he loses interest in you himself, and he doesn't get hurt in the process."
"That actually sounds... plausible," muttered Alice
Lily thought for a moment, playing with the eggs on her plate, going over Nephera's proposal. After five minutes of internal contemplating, she looked up and nodded "Alright, I'll do it. But if I find out that he put you up to this, and this is a trick for me to go out with him-"
"You'll attempt at hexing me, and fail miserably, much as you do in everything else in your life." Stated the Slytherin, getting up and walking away "He doesn't know anything, Evans, this is all me."
Nephera walked back and took her seat next to the curly-haired boy once again, looking up and noticing that her six other friends were looking at her questionably.
"What the hell did you do?" asked Sirius
"Nothing that concerns you," she replied with an equal amount of sharpness
"No, really, what did you say to her?" asked James, worried about what Nephera had done
"Look, I promise, I didn't threaten her, or blackmail her, or anything." She said, her tone more understanding than what it was when she was talking to Sirius
The others exchanged a worried look, having no clue what Nephera had talked about with the redhead. They knew they would get nothing out of her, however, so they continued to eat, Ellie, Tony, and Peter debating about whether tea was better than hot chocolate.
Eventually, breakfast was over and they all sat up to head to their classes, but not before Lily Evans approached them, followed by Marlene and Alice as usual.
"Potter, meet me by the carriages on Saturday, we're going to Hogsmead." She stated.
After observing James's reaction, which resembled that of a cartoon boy discovering ice cream for the first time, she realized that the Slytherin wasn't lying when she said that James didn't know anything about what they had talked about before, she walked away.
The rest of the Great Hall erupted in cheers, the pair had been a long time coming, and all the students were excited to see that the redhead had finally agreed to go on a date with the curly-haired boy. The Gryffindors, the Hufflepuff, and the Ravenclaw, however, had all turned towards the Slytherin and were looking at her as though she had managed to walk on water. But then again, managing to walk on water would've been easier than convincing Lily Evans to go on a date with James Potter.
The Hall had emptied, the students already having gone to classes, except the six friends, who were looking at the Slytherin in complete admiration. There were ten minutes of absolute silence until James snapped out of his daze and tackled Nephera to the ground in a hug.
"Too much physical affection," said Nephera, struggling under the Gryffindor's hold "Alright, get off."
"I love you, I actually adore you!" exclaimed James "You are the best thing that's ever happened to the world!"
"A lot of people would disagree with that," said Sirius, pulling James away from Nephera
"How, exactly, did you manage that?" asked Peter "Oh Godric you didn't imperio her, did you?"
"That was plan B, Peter. But no, I'm simply very persuasive."
"No one's that persuasive, Neph." Laughed Tony "What the hell did you do?"
"Alright, listen. Especially you Jay, because this is a complicated and very delicate plan, which has never been your strong suit."
And so, Nephera launched into a full narrative of her plan, and what it would take for James to succeed. She knew Lily liked him, but her unjustifiably big ego would never allow her to admit it, however, the brunette knew that if the redhead spent enough time with the boy in question, she wouldn't be able to deny her attraction towards him. But in order for that to work, James would have to act the same way he did whenever he was around his friends, not like he usually did around her, a point that the Slytherin stressed multiple times during her explanation.
"You're a good person," teased Peter in a sing-song voice "And you love us,"
"I don't," stated Nephera "I just grew tired of him always ranting about her."
"Mhmm," replied Tony "Sure you did,"
"You came up with this, today?" asked Remus, surprised so as to how fast the girl came up with such a smart plan
"Not even today, you stood up seconds after she rejected him," added Peter "I don't know if that's scary or inspiring,"
Nephera shrugged "A bit of both,"
"Sometimes I ask myself why you were put in Slytherin," teased Ellie "and then you go do something like this, and I remember why."
"Because she's manipulative and never reveals her true intentions to anyone?" snapped Sirius
"You're just pissed because I was able to help your best friend, and do what you haven't been able to do in six years." Replied the Slytherin, her eyes boring into his
"And this is where we go to class!" exclaimed Ellie, pulling Nephera away, Remus doing the same to Sirius
They walked in separate directions, five out of the seven friends grateful that the Gryffindors didn't have class with the Slytherins until later, meaning that they could get away from the other two bickering for a couple of hours.
"I don't understand why you still don't like her," said James, turning towards his friend
"She's a bitch, Prongs. Sooner or later you'll see that too."
"Hey," snapped Tony, not liking the way the Gryffindor was talking about his friend "I understand you two don't see eye to eye, and she's partly to blame for that, but watch it."
"Alright, come on, we don't need two more people arguing," sighed Remus, snaking his arm around the Ravenclaw's shoulders and moving past the other three Gryffindors
"It was a good thing she did today, and you know it." Stated Peter, fed up with the raven-haired boy's attitude
"Yes, until it backfires. Not to mention that she lied to Lily, she used her! Doesn't that annoy you?" he asked, turning to James
"She didn't force her to go out with me. Plus, I'm going out with Lily Evans!"
"Whatever," said Sirius, shaking his head
On the other side of the castle, Ellie and Nephera were having a very similar conversation.
"Why don't you like him?"
"Because he's an asshole with the arrogance the size of a bloody troll."
"You're one to talk about arrogance," said Ellie, hoping to somehow get through to the brunette
"Mine is justified. He can't back it up."
"Come on, Nephera. He's a nice person once you get to know him," tried Ellie once more
"I do know him." Stated the Slytherin "And he might be nice to you, but he sure as hell isn't nice to me."
Ellie shook her head and continued walking with her friend, knowing that Nephera was one of the most stubborn people she knew, and no one but the Slytherin herself could change her opinion on anything.
Classes that morning passed by relatively calm for all of the seven friends. Nephera still hadn't been confronted by Lestrange for the letters she sent to his father, but she knew it was coming. She should feel bad, it was definitely a hit below the belt from her part, but at the end of the day, he brought it upon himself.
Her father's diary was also constantly occupying the back of her mind. She hadn't told the rest of her friends about it, she had only mentioned the picture, but she preferred it that way. The Slytherin wasn't even sure if the diary would lead her anywhere, and she didn't want to burden the rest of them with the dark stuff that was written in it.
She had no luck discovering what 'The Chamber' was, and she doubted she would, not without asking a teacher. Yet, she had already ruled out the thought of telling anyone. This was something she had to deal with herself, not with other people.
As much as Nephera was thinking about her father's diary, Sirius was thinking about her. He couldn't decide whether or not she was a good person, and that was typically not something one should have trouble figuring out. What she had done for James earlier was great, and the curly-haired boy seemed to be floating through the day, but the way she had done it was less than conventional. Once again, she had managed to move everyone right where she wanted them to be, similar to pawns in a chess game.
---
December 4th – Gryffindor Common Room
The four marauders were getting ready for the Ravenclaw's birthday party, Remus fussing over his jacket, mumbling that it wasn't sitting well on top of his shirt. Peter had already gotten dressed and was now looking for the map which Sirius had misplaced earlier that day. Sirius was sitting on his bed, smoking like he usually did, scowling over the fact that he had to spend the night with Nephera. James still hadn't gotten over the fact that he was going on a date with Lily the next day, and was staring at the ceiling dreamily.
"Moony, relax, you look fine." Said Peter, fighting a laugh
"The bloody jacket won't-" mumbled the werewolf, and Sirius got up, placing the cigarette in his mouth, and walked to the sandy-haired male, straightening his jacket
"There," he said "We already have one drama queen tonight, we don't need another,"
"Not again, please not again!" exclaimed Peter "You're worse than James when he talks about Evans,"
"Prongs is in love with Evans, I hate Winchester. There's a difference."
The mousy boy and the werewolf exchanged a glance, not knowing whether what he had said was true. It was undeniable that the Slytherin and the Gryffindor couldn't be in a room together for more than five minutes before an argument started, but from what Ellie had told them, Sirius was asking about Nephera. That, combined with how angry he seemed to get whenever Lestrange said something about her, and how worried he was about her going home, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, showed that there was more than hate between them.
"Lily!" shouted James, his eyes snapping away from the ceiling and to his friends "I'm going on a date with her tomorrow!"
"Merlin," sighed Remus "Come on, the others are probably waiting for us outside,"
The four friends climbed down the stairs, taking the map with them and exiting through the portrait hole to find Ellie and Tony already waiting outside. They were dressed in warm clothes, given the freezing temperatures of December which only got colder at night. They all wished Tony a happy birthday before they realized that one person was missing from the group.
"Where's Winchester?" asked Sirius once he realized the Slytherin wasn't with them
"She's probably still getting ready, she'll be here." Shrugged Ellie
Sirius muttered something beneath his breath, that the rest of them didn't catch, but they knew him well enough to be able to guess that it was probably some insult to Nephera about always being late.
"Prongs, check the map," he said
For some reason, the raven-haired boy found himself worrying, the thought of Nephera walking around the castle alone not sitting right with him, especially since Lestrange still hadn't retaliated for the letters she sent to his father. Sirius had been on the receiving end of her hexes one too many times to know that she could defend herself, but Lestrange knew that too, so Sirius was sure that if he ever tried to attack her, he wouldn't do so alone.
James opened the map, ignoring the surprised looks from the Ravenclaw and the Slytherin, and searched for Nephera's name. His face paled once he was able to locate her.
"She's right beneath us, with Lestrange, Avery, Mulciber, and Nott," he said grimly and they all took off running.
Nephera had just said goodbye to Adam after another one of their meet-ups, and was rushing to meet up with Ellie, Tony, and the Gryffindor's, Tony's present weighing her purse as she walked.
"Winchester, alone, perfect!" she heard a voice, and turned around to find Lestrange walking towards her, Avery, Mulciber, and Nott following him "You really think you could get away with what you did?"
"You did that all to yourself, I warned you." She replied, not bothering to turn around and continuing to walk in the direction of the Gryffindor common room
One advantage Nephera had gained from growing up with Castiel and Emmeline Winchester was that she seemed to have gained a sixth sense when it came to someone pointing a wand at her. So, when she felt Lestrange pull out his wand and cast a body-binding curse towards her, she instinctively put up a wandless and wordless 'protego', shielding herself from the hexes. Turning around swiftly, she didn't bother to take her wand out, simply using one arm to maintain the protective shield and the other to cast stunning spells towards them.
The Slytherins were all great duelers, and it was four against one, so it took a lot of energy out of Nephera to keep them at bay. Eventually, however, she managed to stun Lestrange and Mulciber, put Avery in a body-binding curse and glue Nott against the wall.
The six teenagers were rushing through the halls, grunts and moans of pain making them increase their speed as they tried to reach their friend. Turning the corner, they all pulled their wands out of their pockets and aimed them towards the group. Nothing could prepare them, however, for seeing Nephera step over Mulciber's unconscious body, and dusting herself off as though nothing had happened.
"Sorry I'm late," she panted "Ready to go?"
Peter let out a small laugh before he stuck out his elbow for the girl to loop her hand through "Awesome," he said, winking at her
The others followed suit, shaking their heads at how unbothered the girl seemed to be, and talking amongst themselves, Ellie asking about how they were getting to Hogsmead in the first place.
Even Sirius had to admit, Nephera was incredibly good at dueling and strategy, something that shone through that night. He couldn't get over how completely alluring she looked when fixing her hair and stepping away from four unconscious and hurt bodies. It dawned on him then, that she was right. That he too fed on the images of violence, from establishing his dominance over other people by physically hurting them, just like she did.
They walked up to the statue of the one-eyed witch, James tapping his wand on it and muttering a spell, making it swing open.
"I underestimated you four," said Tony "I'm guessing this isn't the only secret passage?"
"There are six more that we've found, although there might be more," replied Remus, stepping into the passage with Tony next to him
"Moony! Marauder's code!" exclaimed Sirius, not wanting their secrets revealed to the other three
"Yes, Remus, respect the rules of the brotherhood," teased Nephera
"Hey-" started Sirius, but was interrupted by Tony
"Please, not tonight. You can start up again tomorrow, but for now, let's focus on what really matters: me!" said the Ravenclaw playfully, trying to defuse the tension
It worked, since James and Ellie laughed, not used to hearing the boy talk that way about himself, it was typically Nephera that used self-inflating humor.
As they were walking down the passage, Nephera couldn't help but let her eyes trail towards the raven-haired boy that was walking next to Peter. The way he walked was very characteristic to him, laid back and relaxed, one of his hands in the pocket of his pants, and the other running through his hair, he looked every bit the notorious Hogwarts heartbreaker he was known to be. At the same time, though, his back was straight, his shoulders set back and his chin was held high, remnants of Walburga's teachings on proper posture. She couldn't deny that he was attractive, even through the thick material of his leather jacket Nephera could see his muscles moving alongside his arms, Quidditch had definitely done him a huge favor.
Emerging from the passage and into the Honeyduke's cellar, they all stood up and dusted themselves off, stretching their legs and backs.
"Leaving beside how illegal this is, and the fact that we just broke into a sweet shop," muttered Ellie, but was interrupted by Remus
"Your best friend is Nephera Winchester, and you're telling me that the worse thing you've ever done is break into Honeydukes?" asked Remus, raising an eyebrow
"Oh, don't be stupid Moony," grumbled Sirius "We all know Winchester's killed someone in the past..."
"Keep talking like that and I will kill someone," snapped back the Slytherin
"I vote we lock them both in a closet, and then just keep the one that comes out of there alive," said Peter, and Ellie and Tony laughed
"Great idea, wormtail, we can make a show out of it, take bets and everything," added James
"I'm all for it, just gives me an excuse to finally get rid of this dick," mumbled the Slytherin
Ellie slapped a hand over Sirius's mouth, stopping him from responding and having another argument start, and asked instead "How are we getting to the muggle village anyways?"
"Knight Bus," shrugged Peter
"I can always apparate us, I got my license last month," suggested Sirius
"Last time you tried that, we landed on top of a poor woman," teased James "We're taking the bus."
Walking out of the shop, they stopped in front of the main street of the village and Tony extended his wand out, and seconds later a purple, triple-decker bus stopped in front of them, the door snapping open.
"What's your names, kids, and where are we going?" slurred the conductor
"James Potter, we want to go to that muggle village a ways' out of here, how much is that?"
"I'm Stan, and it's eleven sickles, but for thirteen you can also get a mug of hot chocolate,"
"Just the tickets, Stan, thank you," said Ellie with a small smile, handing Stand the sickles and going to sit down, the rest following suit
"Oh, she's kind that one, ain't she? And don't worry you a lot, I'm not tellin' anyone about you kids breaking out of school! Now hold on, and take 'er away Ernie!" he grinned and held on to one of the bars
"Hold on? Why-" but Nephera didn't have time to finish her question because the bus shot forward and she was thrown towards the back of it, alongside Sirius who also hadn't held on to anything
They were both flung out of their seats, and the Gryffindor instinctively wrapped his arms around the Slytherin, pulling her into his chest and turning his back towards the end of the bus, taking most of the impact.
Nephera groaned slightly but was happy to see that she wasn't hurt in any way. A few seconds later, she realized that the reason why she wasn't hurt, was because Sirius had taken most of the impact, and was now clutching the back of his head.
"You alright, Winchester?" he asked, stepping away from her but allowing his eyes to trail over her form to look for any possible injuries
"I'm fine, turn around."
"What?"
"Turn around, you ass, you hurt your head." She said, and he did as he was told
Seconds later, he felt a cooling sensation on the back of his head and down his spine, and the throbbing disappeared and he rolled his shoulders in relief.
"Um, thanks." He muttered, "You're not seventeen though, how-"
"Ministry tracks wands, I've learned wandless magic," she shrugged and carefully moved back to where the rest of them were witting.
The other five teens had seen the interaction and were all wearing identical smirks on their faces. Nephera wasn't known for helping people or accepting help from anyone, so the fact that she had healed the boy without yelling at him, and telling him that she could take care of herself, definitely said something.
Likewise, while Sirius was typically more helpful than the Slytherin, that grace extended only to his friends, certainly not people outside his circle, and certainly not to Nephera Winchester, whom he had spent the past six years hating.
In reality, neither the Gryffindor nor the Slytherin knew why they had helped each other, nor why the idea of the other being hurt annoyed them so much. They shook their heads, ridding themselves of the spiral they were about to enter, and chucked it up to basic human decency and went back to their friends.
James pulled Sirius aside subtly, raising an eyebrow and waiting for him to explain his behavior previously.
"What are you looking at me like that for?" asked Sirius, noticing his friend's raised eyebrow
"Pretty heroic, what just happened," said James "It's sure looked like something a friend would do for another friend,"
"Drop it Prongs. Me and Winchester, not friends. I helped her, she helped me, the transaction's over, we're back to hating each other."
"Really, is that why you beat Lestrange to a pulp when he hit her at the beginning of term? Or when he lied to her father, you almost killed him then."
"Because he hit a girl, and because I hate Lestrange. It has nothing to do with her,"
"Sure it hasn't."
On the other side of the bus, Ellie and Tony were questioning Nephera about the exact same thing, although, just like James, they were getting nowhere.
"Oh just drop it, you two. I helped him because it was the decent thing to do,"
"And since when do you care about what the descent thing is?" asked Tony and Nephera swore slightly knowing that he was right
"I'm a good person-" she started
"To you friends," interrupted Ellie "Are you saying that Sirius is your friend?"
"No, but that's just how it works. He does something for me, I do something for him, and then we go back to hating each other like normal."
Shaking their heads, Ellie and Tony looked over towards James, and once they saw the expression on his face they knew that he didn't have any more luck than they did.
A/N
4.6k words
this is probably the longest chapter i've ever written, and i'm very proud of it too :)
don't forget to comment and vote!
xx