( chapter )
one hundred and ten
SUMMER CAME AND WENT QUICKER than any of them expected. One moment they were out in the sun, splashing in the blue water that reflected the clear sky almost as perfectly as a mirror. Making new friends and memories that felt as if they would last a lifetime, not worrying about anything that the next year or the future would throw at them.
And the next moment, they were all sat on the Hogwarts Express as it sped away from Platform 9 3/4. Waving goodbye to parents and guardians who stood on the platform, some with tears falling from their eyes while others just smiled and waved. Heading back for their final year at Hogwarts, none of them ready to admit that fact.
And none of them were ready to enter the place they'd called home for so many years one last time.
The compartment was louder than it had ever been. Now, that might've been because there were more people in the compartment than there had been before.
But it might've been because none of the soon-to-be seventh years were ready for the silence to engulf them and the realisation that it was their final year to fill their minds as it did.
Cassie sat with her legs resting in James' lap, the two of them taking up a entire side of seats in the compartment, while she laughed at something Remus had said to James, earning a scowl from the bespectacled boy.
Sirius sat on the floor, resting on Remus' legs as the taller boy was sitting on the seats behind him. He was playing Wizards Chess with Peter, who was also sitting on the floor, the two of them letting out small cheers and sighs simultaneously depending on wether or not it was their player that just got smashed into a thousand small pieces.
Sirius would never admit it, but Peter was definitely winning - he was a lot better at Wizards Chess than Sirius remembered.
Lily and Marlene sat on the seat besides Remus, talking to Alice who sat on the floor with her back resting against the door - the three of them were finishing off the last of the sweets that they had gotten from the Trolley Lady when she passed before, greeting them all with a smile that could brighten anyones day.
"If you had a book wrote about you? What do you think it would be called?" Cassie asked, grabbing the attention of James and Remus, the others too engrossed in what they were currently doing.
"Please," James said as he squeezed Cassie's calf with a laugh. "please, never stop asking the stupidest fucking questions you can come up with."
"What do you mean stupidest, these questions all have information that is of value to me."
"The other day you gave me a handful of grass and told me to pick my favourite blade from that handful, how is that information of value to you?"
Cassie pursed her lips as she looked at James.
"Now, why would I tell you that after you've insulted my questions."
"There is no value to this information, is there?"
"Obviously not," Cassie then turned to face Remus with a smile on her face. "Now, Remmy if you had a book written about you, what would it be called?"
"I don't know, 'Moonlight, Chocolate and Boyfriends',"
Cassie let out a laugh as she ran her hand through her hair, James squeezing her calf once again.
"Either that or 'How a bite changed my life.' a bite of what you might ask, well, you'll have to work that out for yourself."
Cassie grinned at him, before turning to James for an answer.
"Cass, you really need to stop putting me on the spot like this-"
"You're shitting yourself if you think that I don't know you think about this on a regular basis - you're so egotistical that you have to."
"That's very rude. . , but you have a point. It would be called 'Bespectacled Beauty'."
Cassie and Remus shared a look before both of them burst out laughing, earning a sharp look from James that did nothing but provoke them to laugh more.
"What? It would be." James replied with a small huff, moving his hand off Cassie's leg and crossing them over his chest.
"That's a shit name." Cassie let out another laugh as she rolled her eyes at James, nudging him with her foot.
"It would obviously be called 'Fat ass Potter.'."
•••
The benches that lined the tables in the Great Hall were missing people, empty places rested between students; plates and goblets were left spotless with no students there to eat off them, their golden surfaces shone in the candle light.
The table missing the most people was the Slytherin table, Cassie hated to say it, but everyone noticed that the table covered in green silk had the most absences.
Nova Goyle say alone in the middle of the table, most of her friends having left the previous year or having not returned this one.
Cassie didn't know why, but she felt some sympathy towards her old friend. She knew how it felt to be alone and would never wish that upon anyone, but at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to go over and talk to the blonde.
It was obvious why, for months now the death of muggles, muggle-borns and half-bloods has been plastered on the front pages of the Daily Prophet. Week after week the number of deaths and people missing increased, whole families had gone into hiding, others hadn't been luckily enough to hide before he found them.
The same symbol of a skull and snake was plastered in the sky high above his latest victims, almost as of it was a trophy to show off the latest murder he committed.
However, the people following him and increased quickly, his popularity grew and soon it wasn't just him who was going around killing. There were dozens of people doing it, all of them going around and murdering innocent people.
It made Cassie sick to her stomach.
However, Dumbledore carried on as if a hundred of his students weren't missing, nor did he address anything that had been in the papers in the past few months.
Cassie did notice he seemed to have been talking in tongues during his usual speech, but she had no idea what he was going on about. She looked over to the Gryffindor table and noticed Lily nodding, so Cassie realised that it must have been something important.
Cassie and Regulus were sitting at the end of the Slytherin table, having been reunited after Regulus went to find his friends on the train.
They both had different food piled on their plates, Cassie had a large pile of mash potatoes in the centre of her plate, getting looks from Regulus as he placed more nutritional food on his plate.
"You had no idea what he was saying either, did you?" Cassie asked through a mouthful of mash potatoes, making Regulus look very confused at the sounds coming out of her mouth, before she swallowed and repeated the question.
"No, I thought he was talking gibberish. I speak French and Italian but whatever the fuck that was I have no idea."
Cassie let out a laugh as she added some peas to her mash potatoes.
"I swear, it's too early in the school year to be thinking hard about things. Save that for at least December."
"You got very high marks on all your exams."
"I took them after December, this doesn't prove anything."
•••
"Why do you two you so sad?" Cassie asked as she stopped what she was saying to Alice and turned to look at Sirius and James who were sitting on a new bench in the courtyard.
Golden rays of sun filtered through the few clouds that were dotted around the otherwise clear, blue sky, casting a bright glow over the entirety of Hogwarts's grounds. The trees and other buildings created patches of shade where students were sitting, cooling off and relaxing.
Students were dotted around the courtyards and grass that surrounded Hogwarts Castle, enjoying their first weekend off since starting back that year.
The Giant Squid was resting his tentacles on the sandy banks around the edge of the Black Lake, soaking up the last of the summer sun before it became autumn. Birds flew down and pecked at its tentacles for a moment before flying away when realising that it wasn't an over-grown worm waiting to be eaten.
James and Sirius shared a quick look before James responded to Cassie.
"Sit down next to us and we'll tell you."
Alice and Cassie shared a quick look, before Alice let out a small giggle and pushed the other girl forwards. Cassie shrugged as she sat down in the middle James and Sirius, not noticing the small grins that were now growing on their faces.
"So, why the long faces?" Cassie asked, turning to Sirius who forced a frown back on his face.
"This bench is freshly painted."
•••
The days quickly turned into weeks and those weeks into months. Summer became Autumn and the weather became colder.
Leaves turned from shades of greens to yellows, browns and reds, falling off the trees and creating a carpet of colour on the forrest floor. The leaves crunched under every step, breaking apart due to their delicacy. The grass became covered in a million tiny frozen gems that was morning dew, the paths became slippier as the puddles froze. The sky became darker, thick grey clouds covering the one blue sky at what felt like all times throughout the day.
The weather dampened and so did the seventh-years moods; they all knew that their final year would be a lot harder, but they never knew it would be as hard as it was.
Teachers were giving them more and more homework, then telling them more and more things to study. Teachers were also giving them practice papers every couple of weeks, meaning that they were already swamped with work.
Cassie was sure that all her teachers believed they were the only subject that their students had.
It felt as though she hadn't had a proper conversation with James in days, and a proper break in weeks.
All her friends could tell she was quickly getting more stressed; it was obvious by the way that she was forgetting things once again.
It began with her just missing a few lessons, the odd one every couple of days - but no-one thought much of that. It was usual for Cassie to miss a few lessons every here and again, especially ones that she didn't enjoy. And then it went on to her missing meals, she wouldn't be there for lunch and people would say they saw her outside or ages away from where the Great Hall is.
Sirius realised that all the small things that they'd been worried about over the past few weeks was something bigger when Cassie didn't show up to their now fortnightly 'Twin Time', she'd only ever missed one and even then she told him days in advance on the fact that she couldn't go.
"Do you know where Cassie is?" Sirius asked no-one in particular as he walked into the Gryffindor common room. James, who was waiting for Remus to finish going over his homework, looked up with a concerned look on his face. Peter, who was sitting opposite the other two boys, shook his head before turning back to his book.
"No, I haven't seen her all day, I thought she was with you."
"Well she's not."
"I see that." James said, sharing a quick look with Remus, who had looked up from James' work, running his tongue over his bottom lip, with a small shrug.
"I saw her in the library last night, but surely she's still not in there."
"She was in there last night? What time was that?" James asked, speaking over Sirius who had opened his mouth to ask his boyfriend a question.
Sirius scowled at James, but he too turned to Remus awaiting his answer.
"I'm not sure, I went in just before it closed so around 10-ish?"
Peter looked up from his book, dog-earring the page that he was on so that he would remember his place while joining in the with the conversation.
"I saw her in there this morning, she looked in a bit of a daze when I spoke to her - she was kinda confused on where she was."
At this, all three of the other Marauders turned to face Peter, who was confused on why all three boys now looked really worried.
"She looked confused?" Remus asked,l before James or Sirius could do so, knowing that they would come across harsher than they meant to die to their worry.
Peter nodded vigorously, noting James and Sirius share a look out of the corner of his eye.
"She lent me her book," he holds up the book that he was reading, "but she didn't understand what the title meant for a moment."
James stood up without a word and made his way up the staircase that led to the boys dorms, the other three watched him until he was out of view.
Sirius ran a hand over his brow, frowning, he went to reply when Lily walked into the common room; a look of worry etched on her face as she held Cassie's overflowing bag in one hand, and held the door open with the other, letting in a Marlene, who was talking very sternly to a very tired looking Cassie whose glasses were askew on her face.
"I don't get why you dragged me out, I was perfectly fine-"
"Cassie, you were asleep on your book. If you were dribble on the pages and smudge the words, Lily never would've let you hear the end of it." Marlene was trying to make a joke or of the situation, but everyone could tell from a mile off that she was concerned, her laugh was nowhere nearly as full as life as it usually was.
"I'm fine-"
"That's bullshit and you know it."
"Stop interrupting me, that's rude." Cassie mumbled, turning away from Marlene like a child who had just been scolded.
"Cassie, I honestly couldn't care less about being rude right now, you can't stay in the library for hours on end."
Cassie mumbled something under her breath and Marlene crossed her arms over her chest, turning to face the boys with a frown on her face.
James came down from the dorms at that moment, the Marauder's Map open in his hands. He paused, looked at the map and then up at Cassie before looking back down at the map.
"Found her." He said before he quickly rushed over to her side, wrapping her in a hug without giving her any time to protest.
"Cass, love, are you okay?" James asked as he pulled away, gently grasping Cassie's face in his hands, bending down so that his eyes could meet hers.
James tried his hardest to suppress his frown when he noticed that Cassie's eyes held that same lack of shimmer as they did the previous year when she kept forgetting.
It was James' turn to be confused when Cassie nodded, letting out a small sigh and leaning her cheek into his palm more.
James began to frown slightly when he saw the imprint of Cassie's glasses on her face, telling him just how long she had been asleep with them on in the library.
James turned to face Marlene and Lily who both looked just as confused as he did, however, he knew that he would have time to ask questions later and at that moment all he needed to worry about was getting Cassie upstairs and to bed.
"Missed you." She muttered, forcing a small smile as she looked at him.
"I missed you too, love." James removed his hands from Cassie's cheeks and grabbed her hand with his instead, taking her bag of Lily.
"Let's go have a nap." James said, his heart almost melting at the way Cassie's eyes lit up at the mention to finally getting some sleep - it seemed as though any worry she had previously had about missing out on school work had gone out the window the moment she saw James and heard him mention sleep.
"Yes." James pressed a kiss to Cassie's temple before gently pulling her up the stairs behind him, the others heard him talking softly to her as they went.
"You found her in the library?" Sirius asked the moment they couldn't hear James anymore.
Marlene sat down on the common room sofa, next to Remus, with a small huff. Lily nodded as she sat down next to Marlene, sending a very quick smile to Peter who blushed slightly and went back to reading his book, which he was now holding upside-down.
"Yeah, she was asleep with her books as a pillow. It was a battle and a half getting her back to the common room, I swear."
"Why, didn't she want to come?" Sirius asked, sitting down opposite the two girls. Remus nudged Sirius' foot with his, giving the dark-haired boy the small bit of reassurance that he needed at that moment in time.
Lily shook her head, itching the back of her hand as she did so.
"I think she really would have been anywhere else rather than with us. We woke her up and I started packing up all of her things while Marlene tried to get her out of the chair. That was hard enough as she didn't want to go with us, but then she was also in a bit of a daze, she didn't look like she knew where she was until Marlene raised her voice a little-"
"I didn't mean to! She just wasn't listening and I was really fucking worried."
"Marls, it's fine, you don't need to justify why you did it." Remus said, before motioning forget Lily to carry on.
"She snapped out of it then, but she was still slightly dazed. She definitely put up a fight the whole way back."
Marlene let out a small chuckle, running a hand through her hair with a frown. "She's a right pain. . . she'll be alright? Won't she?"
Sirius nodded, smiling softly at Marlene.
"She will be, she's just a bit stupid. All she needs is like, 31 hours of sleep and she'll be good again."
•••
Remus stopped in his tracks as he exited the bathroom and stepped back into the dorm room. His hands, that were in the process of tying his tie, froze as he did.
He didn't expect to see a deer and dog fighting at eight-thirty on a random Tuesday morning.
Remus also realised that after living with James and Sirius for so long, he should expect the unexpected.
The two of them stopped what they were doing and quickly rushed over to Remus, James' Stag form accidentally hitting Sirius' Dog form in the face with his antlers as they rushed over.
Sirius growled at James who tried his best to look unimpressed. Remus had to give him credit where credit was do, he did look like a deer who didn't care.
"You two know we have lessons that start in ten minutes, don't you?" Sirius nodded, then jumped up on his back two legs to kick Remus' face.
Remus let out a small laugh before pushing Sirius down and wiping the dog slobber off his face. Sirius then began to whine, causing James to whack him with his antlers again, this time it was very much intentional.
"We have lessons, you two need to get back to normal and dressed."
The two animals looked at each other before looking back at Remus and making random noises that he didn't understand.
He gave the two Animagi a look before walking over to the mirror to finish tying his tie. However, the moment his back was turned, James hit Remus with his antlers, moving his head around in an attempt to tell him something.
"I have no fucking idea what you're doing- don't start barking Padfoot, you'll get us in trouble."
The two animals both shared another look before closing their eyes and looking as if they were trying to shift back, they held that position for a moment before opening their eyes again to see Remus with an amused expression upon his face.
"You can't change back?"
They both shook their heads.
"This is the highlight of my life."
Sirius let out another bark and James bent his head slightly, showing that he wasn't afraid to hit Remus again.
"You two got yourselves into this one, the two of you can get yourselves out." Remus said as he grabbed his back and wand from their place on his unmade bed.
"And remember," He called just before he left the dorm, "if you miss class you can't copy my notes."
Remus shuts the door just as Sirius begins barking and James begins to bang his hooves on the floor.
The two animals shared another look before turning to the clock that rested above the bathroom door in their dorm.
James, in stag form, nodded at Sirius who let out another small whine, but nodded back.
Remus had told him self only moments before to expect the unexpected when it came to being friends with James and Sirius - but that doesn't me he ever thought he would see a stag and deer pushing their way through a crowd of students to get to him.
Nor did he ever think he'd hear one person yell 'Potter and Black found a new prank!', causing everyone to believe that James and Sirius were purposely running around as a stag and dog, and it wasn't really that they were stuck in their animagus forms.
•••
The Marauders were known for many things within the walls of Hogwarts - their constant stream of detentions, the fact that they were always found in the stupidest of situations, they were knows by the students for their good looks and sense of humour that could make anyone laugh.
James and Sirius were known for getting into fights with anyone who they believed deserved it, while Peter and Remus discussed their techniques from the side. Remus was known for his brains and the fact that he was definitely one of the smartest students in Hogwarts. Peter was known as the sweet boy who was seemingly dragged into the group.
James and Sirius were also both known for their quidditch's skills - both of them being one of the best Chasers and Beaters that the school had ever seen. All four of them were known for their creativity.
They were all known for the being what looked like the first students to get McGonagall to laugh, and to get her to smile even when she was telling them off.
But above everything, they were known for their pranks.
They had charmed foods to move away from forks when people tried to stab them; they'd charmed furniture in the common rooms so that it was stuck to the ceiling, quite often falling down and hitting a few people as it did so; they had transfigured their homework assignments into mice that ran away from their professors when they tried to grab it.
The four of them had charmed entire parts of the castle so that whenever a student went near it they would begin singing and dancing to whatever Weird Sisters song was popular at that moment. They'd cancels lessons for a week straight when they charmed all the classroom doors shut - not even Flitwick would un-charm them easily.
Then there were their yearly prank wars - they were split into pairs and had to come up with the best pranks possible, the winner was judged by who got the most detentions. That went on for a month and left each of them with different colours of hair, burn marks on their school uniform and a sense of worry whenever they saw their friends.
Somehow, they had dragged Cassie into this, but she was always on the team against James - who never got annoyed when she pranked him, he was rather impressed by what she came up with.
The Marauder's always played one big prank at every special occasion that Hogwarts had, Halloween, Christmas, Easter and the end of the year.
But this year, it was their final year and they were determined to make their pranks as unexpected and as memorable and they possibly could.
And that's exactly what they did.
"You four are up early for a Saturday." Cassie observed with a raised eyebrow as she walked towards the four boys who were all sitting at the Gryffindor table, al of them looking ready for the day.
She ran a hand through a knot in her hair as she sat down besides James, who instantly gave her thigh a squeeze and her forehead a kiss.
"No PDA at the table," Sirius said, moving his and Remus' entwined hands off the table. Cassie kicked what she thought was Sirius' leg under the table, however she was soon to apologise when she saw Remus wince in pain.
"Why can't we be up early?" Sirius asked, leaving forwards on his free hand. "It's a beautiful day, we don't want to waste it in bed."
Cassie turned her head to glance out the window, she then turned back to Sirius with an unamused look on her face.
"It's raining." She deadpanned.
"Don't be rude to the rain, Cass, the rain is the reason why everything is alive, so it's beautiful."
Cassie eyes all of the boys, even Peter who looked the most normal as he ate his breakfast.
"What do you have planned?" Cassie asked as she grabbed a strawberry from the plate in front of her, but she didn't have time to eat it before James snatched it out of her hand and swallowed it in one.
"Why do you think we have something planned? Can't we just enjoy the day?"
"No. Especially not when it's fucking Halloween and you're being suspicious."
"We haven't planned anything." Remus said. Cassie had to give him credit, he was the best at lying from the group - Peter couldn't lie if it was to save his life, James would stumble over his words if he was lying to her and she had grown up with Sirius, so it was easy for Cassie to tell when he was lying.
The Slytherin hummed, seemingly unconvinced, but she dropped the topic.
Students began to fill into the Great Hall, all of them apart from the First Years looking over at the Marauders; there was a mixture of anticipation, curiosity and worry on all of their faces.
But the Marauder's all looked normal, which in itself should have been a giveaway that something was going to happen.
The day passed and nothing out of the ordinary had happened and sooner or later it was time for Dinner, everyone sat down with plates full of different sweets and treats in front of them.
Noise on the hall grew, as did laughter and talking as people became more and more energetic from the sugar that they were consuming. Soon, people were having too much of a good time to remember that the Marauders went to their school.
"That is your tenth piece of chocolate cake." Sirius stated as Cassie placed another slice of cake on the plate that was in front of her.
"Your point is?" Marlene asked from besides her, "She needs to eat to keep her ass that fat."
Cassie winked at Marlene before threatening to stab her twin with her fork.
"I feel like I should be worried." James spoke up from his place the other side of Cassie, glancing at Marlene with furrowed eyebrows.
"You should be, Marlene is definitely better in bed then you are."
All of the friend group, apart from Cassie and Marlene shared looks, at this point they were actually confused on if the two of them had slept together or not.
James opened his mouth to respond, however before he had the chance to say anything, Dumbledore stood up and the whole hall fell silent.
James raised an eyebrow in Cassie's direction, almost as if he was telling her that they would talk about that later. Cassie simply grinned at him before turning her attention onto Dumbledore.
Halfway through Dumbledores speech, everyone's attention changed from the man to the teachers sitting besides him.
Each of the teachers had began to smoke from their ears, each teacher had a different colour of smoke coming from their ears - from pinks to blues to yellows.
Flitwick was the first to change. The red smoke coming from his ears covered his entire body, then there was a loud 'Pop!' followed by the smoke disappearing.
In Flitwick's place was a single Jack-O-Lantern. The pumpkin had a carved out Professor Flitwick on it. Suddenly, the carving began to move, the carved-out Flitwick moving as if he wasn't a pumpkin. He ran around the pumpkin before stopping and looking out over the hall. His face changed so that you could tell he was laughing, however he made no sound.
One by one, the teachers changed into a carving on a pumpkin - some of them laughing and others looking mad. McGonagall just had time to tell 'Boys!' before she too was changed into a carving. Dumbledore was the last one to be changed, he just smiled and waved as his carved out form.
Everyone was silent, and then in an instant, everyone began to laugh.
"How in the name of Merlins left tit did you manage to do that?" Cassie asked in amazement, stopping from laughing just long enough to ask.
"A lot of practice and patience." Remus replied, not looking away from the pumpkins, almost as if he was amazed that their prank had actually worked.
"I think I've been a pumpkin in the last week more times that I've had a detention." James said with a small shiver.
"Which is saying something."
•••
"You'll still love me when I'm old, won't you?" Cassie asked as she looked up at James.
It was the night before her 18th Birthday and the two of them had snook out of their rooms past curfew to look at the stars from the top of the Astronomy tower.
The sky was beautiful that night.
It was clear, not a single cloud covered any one of the millions of stars that shon down from the heavens above, each one twinkling as if it knew something that no-one else did. The dark sky created a blanket over the world below, the stars brightening up the planet that was beneath them, bringing people a sense of comfort.
The silver moon sat high in the sky, watching over everything from above. Silver rays of light shon down, illuminating the land around them wherever they lay; creating shadows and silhouettes that danced in the cold breeze that blew them.
Wind blew back and forth, as if it was fighting with itself on which direction to blow, it moved tree branches that creaked and collided against each other, it created ripples on the Black Lake that reflected the image of the sky.
Bitter air bit and nipped at the couples skin, however neither of them were cold enough to move from the position that they were currently in. Cassie sitting between James' legs, her back resting against his chest while his arms wrapped around her torso, holding her as close to him as possible.
Their love was stronger than ever, and it didn't look as though it was going to burn out anytime soon, it would continue to shine for years and years to come.
Just like stars that rested in the sky above them.
James gave Cassie a squeeze as he pressed a kiss to to back of her head.
"I'm still going to love you when you're old, no doubt about it."
"Even if I need help wiping my bum?"
"Even if you need help wiping your bum."
"Now that's true love." Cassie said with a laugh.
The two sat in silence for a while longer. They didn't say or do anything, they were just enjoying each other's company - sometimes, being in the presence of someone you loved was enough.
James checked the watch that his parents had gifted him for his seventeenth birthday, he smiled when he noticed the time.
"Happy birthday love." He murmured as he pressed his lips to her head once again, grabbing her hand and letting his thumb run over the back of it absentmindedly.
Cassie smiled and when James removed his lips from her head, she leaned back into his chest more. He pulled a parcel from his pocket, it was scruffily wrapped with a bow placed wonkily on the top; but to Cassie, that made it all the more special.
Cassie felt small tears spring to her eyes as she opened the gift, a few packets of the same sweets.
"I know it's not much, but I remembered when you talked about how Kreacher used to smuggle them to you as a young girl. You said it was one of your favourite memories from growing up but you couldn't find them anywhere, so I wanted you to have that again."
"Thank you so fucking much. I love them, and I love you." She replied as she smiled down at the box of treats.
"I love you more."
"I love you most."
Cassie turned so that she was now facing James, she put her legs either side of his waist and leaned into his chest.
James wrapped his arms around her waist again, resting his head on top of hers.
Cassie could hear James' beating heart. His heart beat brought her the feeling of comfort and safety; Cassie knew that wherever she was, she would feel safe if she was with him.
James was Cassie's home and she was his.
•••
November came and went in a blur, as did December. The weather became colder and rain was replaced by snow that covered the ground and left no spots untouched.
The group of Gryffindors and a Slytherin decided to stay at Hogwarts that Christmas, knowing that it would be their last one there and all of them wanted to experience it one more time.
It was as magical as they had all remembered, the decorations were beautiful, with Christmas trees so tall they reached the ceiling and tinsel that twinkled brightly in the candlelight.
No food was left on the table on Christmas day, no gifts left unwrapped and no cracker left un-pulled - by the end of it, James owned around ten paper hats and Sirius had a collection of stupid jokes while the two of them both passed their cheap prizes to their partners (who really didn't want them either).
The memories and fun they had that Christmas would last forever in their minds and in the minds of people who passed while they were all laughing and talking loudly about whatever first came to head.
It was when the students came back did reality hit again. The Hogwarts Express carried less students than ever as it pulled in at Hogsmeade station.
Parents didn't think going back to Hogwarts was safe for their children, other parents wanted their children to join the Dark Lord before it was too late and a few didn't have a choice.
Cassie almost couldn't stomach it when she read the names of people she had classes with in the Daily Prophet, talking about the mark that was left flying in the sky above where they had been murdered in cold blood.
Something big was happening outside of the Castles walls and it had been for years, but only in the last couple of months had it become so bad that everyday new people were missing and everyday new names were placed in the Daily Prophet, their deaths written in black and white for all to see.
Cassie wouldn't be surprised if her parents were the reasons some of those people were dead, that thought alone was enough to bring her close to tears.
Cassie knew that she would fight if it came to it.
Good versus bad.
The light versus the bad.
She could only hope that if it came to it, people would pick the right side to be on. The side that didn't care about peoples blood, at the end of the day, everyone bleeds the same colour.
Why should the purity of that blood matter?
She couldn't justify it in her head, but she knew that the difference of purity was something that people hated.
Obviously it was, otherwise none of this would be happening.
Cassie only hoped that they would all be stopped soon, before too many people could get hurt and killed.
Before anyone she loved was hurt.
•••
"I really need to get something off my chest."
"Is it your bra? Please say it's your bra."
Cassie blinked in Marlene's direction, the expression her face somewhat between one of her looking as if she was about to cry and one of her looking as if she was going to laugh.
"No. It isn't my bra."
"Curse you and your perfect boobs."
Cassie and Alice shared a confused look.
"Thank you? I think?"
"You're very welcome."
•••
January, February and March all passed in the blink of an eye and soon April and Spring met the grounds at Hogwarts.
Snow began to melt into puddles, letting the grass beneath it see the light of day once more; only a few chunks of ice remained floating in the Black Lake, melting more and more as the days went on. The sun made more of an appearance and grey, rainy days became scarce. Flowers began to grow from the patches of dirt that for the right amount of sun and rain, daisies and dandelions littered the grounds.
Sirius, Cassie and Regulus all walked along the path that led to Hogsmeade, birds sang from nests in the trees beside them and small puddles of rain from the previous night were dotted around the path.
Cassie and Sirius had renamed their 'Twin Time' to 'Sibling Saturday', they saw each-other every day now so it wasn't that special to have a day dedicated to spending time together, but they realised that they didn't see Regulus much as he was always with his new friends.
So every two weeks the Black Siblings spent an entire Saturday together, doing whatever fun things they could think of. Over winter that had been sleighing down the snow covered hills around Hogwarts and then going to the kitchens for hot chocolate - all of them complaining that it wasn't as good as Euphemia's. And in the spring, it normally just consisted of all of them going for walks around the Black Lake and then watching the stars from the Astronomy Tower.
But this week, it was a trip to Hogsmeade, so that was where they were going to have their Sibling Saturday.
For some reason, Cassie was stuck in the middle while her brothers towered over her from either side of her. She had to look up whenever one of them spoke - and seeing as the sun was right in the middle of the sky, she was begging to get blinded by it.
"Can you two please just shrink? I'm already blind enough."
Sirius and Regulus shared a look before both of them began to shake their heads simultaneously.
"Why don't you just grow? It's not that hard."
Cassie elbowed her younger brother, who began to rub his ribs with a small intake of air.
"You know I stopped growing in Second Year, stop rubbing it in."
Regulus and Sirius both began laughing loudly at that, getting a few looks from people passing them but none of them cared.
"Shut up." Cassie mumbled, kicking at the ground with her shoe. Her brothers only began to laugh louder at that.
"You two better stop laughing or I'll start screaming."
Both boys stopped laughing and shared another look, Regulus shook his head but Sirius looked down at Cassie with a smirk on his face, as if he was challenging her to start screaming in the middle of a crowded path.
Regulus shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose with a small sigh.
"You know she'll doing it, Sirius, this is Cassie we're talking about."
The three siblings stopped walking, Cassie looked up at Sirius with a blank expression on her face, Sirius looked down at her with a smirk.
Regulus really wanted to carry on walking, but he knew this was going to be too funny to miss.
"Do it. No balls."
Cassie opened her mouth and let out a scream, however she was cut off when Sirius quickly put her in a headlock and covered her mouth with his other hand.
Other students gave the siblings funny looks as they passed, Regulus apologising to the odd few by telling them that Cassie was very much a day drinker and was just drunk.
Sirius kept his sister in the headlock for a few more moments, "You won't scream again, will you?"
He released the headlock when Cassie shook her head. She rubbed her neck when she was free and furrowed her eyebrows as she looked up at Sirius.
"Why is your head so small? You little midget." He commented.
"And you have a big mouth, shut the fuck up."
•••
Nova looked up from her work when she saw someone sit down opposite her, she raised her eyebrows in surprise when she saw Cassie sitting there.
Cassie was looking down at the book in front of her, and only looked up when she felt Nova's gaze on her.
"Are you okay there?" Cassie asked with a raised eyebrow, Nova nodded for a short moment before looking back down at her work and carrying on.
Cassie went back to her work, the two sat in silence for a while before Cassie once again felt the blonde's gaze on her. She looked up to see Nova looking at her with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows.
"Do you need my help or something?" Cassie asked, resting her head in the palm of her hand while she looked at her old friend.
"N-no." Nova stammered.
Cassie raised her eyebrows and nodded, turning back to her book, however Nova didn't move her eyes from the girl in front of her.
"Are you sure you're alright? You can't seem to stop staring at me." Cassie said after a few more minutes of silence passed between the two of them.
Nova opened her mouth to speak but shut it instantly and shook her head.
Nova looked back down at her work but didn't carry on writing, Cassie hummed and went back to her book.
More silence passed between the two, however it wasn't a comfortable one like it would have been two years prior, it was tension filled and made them both rather anxious.
"Why are you sitting with me?" Nova finally asked once she had built up enough courage to do so.
"I know it was you who was sending those letters to my parents." Cassie admitted, closing her book and looking up.
Nova froze when their eyes met, however Cassie eyes weren't as she remembered. When they were friends, Cassie's eyes were always dull and always looked as if she hadn't slept a blink of sleep for week - but now, they were full of joy and shon like they never had before.
It made Nova realise just how happy Cassie truly was now that she was out of that place and now that she had more friends and people who truly loved her.
"I-I- didn't-"
"There's no point lying about it. I know you did it. But I'm not mad."
This surprised Nova, "You're not?"
"No. Not anymore at least. I was when I first found out it was you, I really wanted to kill you then. But I'm not mad anymore."
"But, but why not? They could have killed you, and I could have been the reason why."
Cassie shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm not going to say I'm glad they abused me, because obviously I'm not. But that turned me into the person I am today, and without it I wouldn't be where I am today. One of the main reasons I met James is because of what they did to me, and he makes me the happiest I've ever felt.
"Sure, I still get the nightmares from it and it definitely messed up my brain more than I'd like to admit, but now I have the good the things that came from it, like my friends and James and the fact that out made me who I am. Plus, I know just how manipulative they can be, so I don't blame you."
Nova opened her mouth to respond when James walked up to Cassie, holding a thick book in his hands.
"You ready to go, love? I think this is the one Remus wanted, and if not, he can come get it himself - the lazy fucker."
"James, he's in the hospital wing."
"His legs still work."
Cassie let out a small laugh before turning back to
Nova when James once again asked her if she was ready to go.
"I'll see you around Nova." The dark-haired girl said while she stood up and grabbed her book that was in front of her.
"I'm sorry." Nova said as the couple began to walk away.
Cassie turned aliens and smiled at her old friend, shrugging her shoulders as she did so.
"No worries, all's forgotten."
•••
"Just piss off James." Cassie yelled as she stormed away from her boyfriend, pushing her glasses
up to the top of her head so that she could rub at her eyes with her free hand, her other one holding her school bag that was full to the brim with sheets and books.
James frowned as he bumped into a student who was walking into the library, just giving himself time to apologise before he was following after Cassie.
"Cass, love, wait-"
"I said piss off." She yelled over her shoulder, turning to go down another corridor. James heard what she said, but followed her nevertheless.
"Cassie, I was only messing-"
James froze when Cassie turned around to face him, her arms folded over her chest and an annoyed look on her face.
"Look. We all know you're thick as shit, but I thought you would at least understand that when someone tells you to 'piss off' you should fucking do it."
James opened his mouth to respond then shut it again. He furrowed his eyebrows with a large frown.
"There was no need for that."
Cassie let out a hollow laugh, pinching the bridge of her nose. James could tell at that moment that she was really annoyed.
"And there was no need for you to get us fucking kicked out the library, but you still went and did it!"
"Now you're just being plain mean."
Cassie shook her head, looking away from James for a moment in disbelief. She went to respond, but James cut her off before she could get any words out.
"It was a fucking accident but here you are acting like it's the biggest problem you've ever had-" Cassie let out another breath of air, but James carried on talking. "Accidents happen, you just need to loosen up some more."
"Fuck you." Cassie said, her voice eerily calm. She turned on her heel to walk away from the situation and James as a whole.
"Cass." James called as she began to walk away.
"Fuck you!" She yelled, raising a middle finger up over her shoulder.
"Cassie." James jogged over to her and stopped when they were face to face.
His frowned deepened when he noticed the tears that were brimming in her eyes.
"Cass-" James moved to block her path when she tried to walk away from him, a few of the tears fell.
"James, please, just leave me be."
"No. Not when you're crying."
Cassie rubbed at her tears then faked a smile as she looked up at James.
"No more tears, see? Now please, you've already done enough."
James shook his head and Cassie let out another huff.
"James, just fuck off. You got me kicked out the library when exams are next week and even when I told you to stop you didn't. In what world would shouting in a library be a good idea? I need to pass these exams, I need to study for them, but you just won't let me be. So please, just piss off."
James did the opposite when he pulled Cassie into his chest - he held his breath for a moment, ready for her to push him away, however, he was pleasantly surprised when she melted into the hug.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Cass." He muttered as he ran a hand through her hair, the other one resting on her back to hold her close.
"I was just trying to make you laugh, you've been really stressed so I just wanted you to smile."
Cassie pulled away from James and looked up at him with the smallest hint of a smile on her face.
"I love you so much." She muttered, leaning back into his chest.
"I love you too." James replied as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
•••
Soon, all of the Seventh Years were walking into the Great Hall, empty NEWT papers waiting on individual tables and ready to be written on with whatever the students thought was the correct answer.
Every day there was a new exam, another exam that all of their time at Hogwarts had led up to. Another exam that would determine what future they were to have and where they would go next in life. Another exam that was more important than any exam they'd ever done before.
Stress and tension lingered in the air as students let the exam hall only to go and revise for whatever exam they had the next day, not having any time to themselves other than to sleep and eat.
Pity arguments were happening everywhere as people became more worried about their exams and what would be on those final papers.
No seventh year was found without a book in their hand for a couple of weeks, all of them wanting to ensure that they had remembered everything that they possibly could before they entered the exam that they had on that topic.
Even James and Sirius had stopped their pranks as they focused on their exams, both of them wanting to get good enough marks to go on to be Aurors. Remus had his head inside a Defence Against the Dark Arts book whenever anyone saw him, wanting to get the best marks he could on that paper so that he could eventually become a teacher. Peter, who had no clue whatsoever on what he wanted to do when he left Hogwarts, was cramming as much information as he could into his head before each exam.
Marlene and Cassie had stopped their playful flirting while they both focused on their exams, rather than focusing on making James jealous due to their antics. Cassie was always found with one of her friends testing her on her subjects, handwritten flash cards sitting in their hands as they helped. Marlene was relaxing more on her exams, wanting to be a Quidditch Player, but she was still trying to get the best marks she could for her backup plan of being an Auror.
Lily snapped at anyone who became too loud, making sure that silence followed her wherever she went so that she could probably focus on whatever topic she was revising. Alice hardly said a word, just too anxious about the exams that she was yet to have.
But before they knew it, they were walking out of their final exam. All of them letting out cheers and yells as they walked away from the Great Hall.
They'd done it and they'd done it together.
•••
"Remmy, what do bees make?"
"Honey."
"Yes, babe?"
Remus let out a laugh as he looked up from the homework that was in front of him. He opened his arms and Sirius didn't waste a moment before moving so that he was sitting on Remus lap, the taller boys arms wrapped around him.
James, who was sitting on the seats opposite the couple raised an eyebrow. James then turned to look at Cassie who was sitting on the other side of the room, helping a third year with their Muggle Studies homework.
"Cassie?" James called. She looked up from her work and rolled her eyes when she caught his gaze. The little third year followed her gaze then furrowed his eyebrows when he saw James.
"What do bees make?"
"Some annoying fucking buzzing noise, what do you want?"
James narrowed his eyes at the third year when he began laughing, Cassie smiled at him slightly before turning back to explain what she was previously.
"That little shit." James muttered with a pout on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"He's trying to steal my girlfriend."
"James. He's like 12."
•••
Before anyone knew it, the school year was over and everyone was sitting down for their final breakfast at Hogwarts. Plates that were filled to the brim with food were placed on the tables, ranging from pancakes and waffles to bowls of sweets there to celebrate the end of another year. There was an endless supply of food and drink for everyone and even the house-elves came up from the kitchens to say their final good-byes to everyone.
James, Cassie and Sirius all grinned as they walked over to where McGonagall was sitting at the teachers table; she rolled her eyes when she saw them coming, but no-one could say that the grin that made its way onto her face wasn't one of love.
"Are you gonna miss us Minnie?" Cassie asked as she stood on her tiptoes, resting her arms on the table in front of her.
"I think she is," Sirius added on.
"Oh yes, whose going to make you laugh now?"
McGonagall simply shook her head, tears began to brim in the corners of her eyes, but she just blinked them away.
"The day I begin to miss you three, is the day I finally retire."
The three students spoke to their teachers for a while longer, as annoying as they are, none of the teachers could deny that they brought something to Hogwarts that no student had brought before. They couldn't exactly explain what that thing was; but they all knew that when those three students left Hogwarts, something would be missing from within the school grounds.
It was only when the call for the final send off of the Carriages happened did the seventh years begin to walk away. They said their final goodbyes and began to walk away from the teachers table.
When they were just about to leave the door, Cassie quickly ran back to the table, she smiled up at all her teachers.
"Thank you, for everything, honestly, I definitely wouldn't be where I am today without most of you. You've dealt with us all for long enough, so enjoy your time off." Cassie smiled once more before rushing back to where James was waiting for her, he grabbed her hand and gave it a quick kiss before pulling them out of the hall for the final time.
"You're going to miss them, aren't you Minerva?" Dumbledore asked when he saw McGonagall wipe stray tears from her face.
"Indeed I am Albus, those kids are truly something special." She said, wiping more tears when she heard the laughter coming from outside.
"I just hope the world is ready for them because we surely weren't."
•••
The carriage ride to Hogsmeade station was silent.
Every seventh year was just enjoying their final ride back to the station; admiring the Black Lake and the way the sun reflected on its surface, illuminating the fish swimming beneath it; they admired the Fobidden Forrest, the Marauders laughing about inside jokes that no-one else would understand; they admired the Hogwarts Castle as it became hidden behind the mountains that surrounded it. They all let out small sigh when the final turret faded from view.
Everyone was just admiring the place that they had called home for seven years just one more time.
"I don't think I'm ready to go." Cassie said as they all settled down in their usual compartment on the Hogwarts Express.
"I think I'd like to be a first year again, I'm not ready for the big scary world outside."
The Seventh Years all let out half-hearted laughs before silence over-took them once more.
It wasn't that they were sad that they weren't going to see each other ever again, because that was far from the truth (Cassie had already told them that they're all going to live in an apartment block together or she was going to hunt them down and stab their eyes with a fork), but it was just the fact that all they were used to was Hogwarts.
The routine, the lessons, the food, the way that they saw all their friends every day and the fact that inside Hogwarts, everything felt safe.
But now they were leaving that and going into the world outside that was getting more and more dangerous as the days went by.
They were sad that they were leaving their home and the place where they all found friends and a family that they could call their own- and for some, they were sad that they were leaving the place where they had found love.
Jokes were made on the way back to platform Nine and 3/4, but not as many as they normally would make. People laughed, but they were as joyful as they normally were.
The sun was setting when the train pulled it at Platform 9 and 3/4. One by one the newly graduated students left the compartment that they were sitting and made their way onto the platform where their parents and guardians were waiting.
They all said their goodbyes in the form of a group hug, telling one another to keep in contact (Cassie once again threatened to hunt them down if they didn't) before running off to find their families, waving at the friends until they were out of view.
Cassie pulled James into a hug when she saw Lily's parents and a very annoyed looking Petunia.
"You don't need to threaten me to keep in contact with you." James said with a laugh as he pressed a kiss to the top of Cassie's forehead.
"I know, but I just wanted a hug."
James smiled as he held her tighter, the two of them stayed like that for a while. It felt as if they were in their own little world, one without worries and fear, one with only love.
They pulled apart when Sirius called James, telling him to stop with the PDA or they'd leave him there.
"I'll see you on Wednesday, love." James said with a smile as he and Cassie reluctantly pulled away from
their hug.
"I forgot about that, now we have to explain to Dylan and Will where we've been for the past 10 months, how fun."
James let out a laugh before bending down to press his lips to Cassie's.
Sirius called for him again and he let out a sigh as he pulled away from Cassie.
"I love you."
"I love you more."
They said their goodbyes before going their separate ways, James to his family and Cassie to hers.
"You two make me sick." Lily stated when Cassie finally walked over to her. "But you're adorable so I'll let it slide."
Cassie laughed and greeted Mr and Mrs Evans with a smile, making sure that this time she didn't swear, even if they had become used to the curses that came from the girls mouth.
Cassie and Lily laughed as they told the others about their year, both of them play-fighting when Cassie would mention boys who had asked Lily out and Cassie putting Lily in a headlock when she tried to mention how no-one knew if she and Marlene had actually slept together or not.
They laughed as they passed through the wall that led from Platform 9 and 3/4 to the usual muggle platform.
Both of them looked over at the Hogwarts express one more time as they walked through the wall, smiling at the memories that they had created on that train, and also smiling about the memories they were going to make during the rest of their lives.
Steam billowed from the train one more time before it began to pull away from the station and head back to Hogwarts where it would wait until the next school year began.
It wouldn't be until next year when people would discover eight sets of entails carved into a wall of one compartment.
A compartment that held a group of friends with friendship long enough to last a lifetime.
At least, that's what they all thought.
•••
HI
ITS ME AGAIN
I HOPE YOURE ALL DOING WELL
I KNOW I AM
MY MOCKS BEGIN
TOMORROW AND MY FIRTS ONES ARE ENGLISH AND HISTORY: MEDICINE
SAVE ME PLS
I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THIS
CHAPTER
(it's 10,400 words long so you better
have otherwise i will cry)
IM SO EXCITED ABOUT WHAT IS YET TO
HAPPEN AND I LOVE EVERYONE IN
IT SFMM
i hope the ending was alright as i as wasn't
sure on how to end it, but i think it's okay (:
feel free to tell me what you thought and what
you want to see next
until next time
- Emily xx