In the match against Hufflepuff, we'd smashed them out of the park with amazing skills with the Quaffle, and the wonderful Snitch catching, and great strategies from the Keeper and Beaters. In all reality, we'd won the match by one hundred and thirty points, as they were keeping up well, before Jacques caught the snitch right under the other Seeker's (Henderson) nose.
The celebrations in the common room on the night of the match was loud and wild, and Lily was chivvying us all to bed in the end.
It was now June, and the last few days of second year were closing in upon us, the exams finished, most classes were much easier, and much more relaxed, and the people were generally more peaceful then before April. Currently, I was being quizzed by Lily on Muggle things, as she had said it was good to understand the workings of the Muggle world if ever I needed to navigate myself around it.
Which, I found unlikely but, who knew.
James was sat next to me, trying to talk to Lily, but she was intent upon testing me instead of listening to a word he said. The brown curly haired boy was then grumbling to his grey eyed friend, who just laughed at him and wished him good luck with the girl. The two then promptly began to arm wrestle.
Peter was lying on his stomach reading a Magical Creatures book, taking Lily's advice and getting information on his subject for next year. Remus was reading Hogwarts a History, and not taking in anything happening around him, for fear of losing his sanity.
"Having fun are we James? I know I am, watching you try and fail to talk to somebody is highly entertaining for me," Sirius said loudly, attracting the attention of the rest of the group. James shoved his best friend to the ground and shushed him, "Shut up Sirius, I'm not failing, she's just busy talking to somebody else, she'll talk to me in a minute."
Lily and I laughed at his hopeless positivity, which rather surprised me as I expected the girl to blatantly ignore or dislike his humour, but then Lily replied, "Keep dreaming Potter."
Lily was good at not talking to people, when she was mad with Fabian, she didn't talk to him for a week straight. No matter how much he tried to talk to her. It was quite entertaining, especially when he tried to talk, and she just played her Muggle records on her CD player over him, playing people she called David Bowie, and then The Osmond's, all of whom I had no idea of.
They sounded a lot more normal than some Muggle singers however, taking The Weird Sisters as an example - everyone of whom had no idea when they originated, or how old they were.
James sat up immediately straight, and said, "See Sirius, I told you she would talk to me when she's not actually busy." Peter closed his book, laying it to his side, and eyed both James and Lily with interest, Remus only spared a glance over the top of his book, a slight smile on his face.
I decided to be the one to tell James the harsh truth, and said, "Actually Jamie, she's trying to say that so you don't talk to her for the rest of the day. Therefore showing you that a) she's not interested and b) she likes me more."
Sirius laughed at James' crestfallen face, and told him brightly, "She has a point James, I guess your luck has run out, keep up the good work though Lily, I've never seen him like this before." James hit the black haired boys shoulder, grumbling, "For the last time, shut up Sirius."
Lily ignored James, and instead appreciated the formers compliment, "Thank you Sirius, but being nice to me won't make me any less willing to beat you in grades at transfiguration."
Sirius shrugged, "Worth a try, isn't it?" Lily was bound to beat him anyways, she was exceptionally smart for a Muggle born, of course there was no blood hatred but she picked everything up a lot quicker than some Purebloods. It was quite interesting that her and Sirius had a rivalry, and she was also a favourite of Slughorn's.
After thinking of all of these factors, I answered the boy, "Not really." This time it was my turn to get 'the face'. I turned to lay on my back, and winced as Sirius kicked my arm, rolling his eyes. However, when we fell silent, he couldn't stand it for long, he began to talk again, no matter the subject, Sirius was an open discussion kind of guy.
"If you had to introduce yourself with one sentence what would that be? I think mine would be I'm hot, Sirius and still single," Sirius questioned us. I hit his leg, he was thirteen not seventeen, and he was far to young to be bothered about a relationship status. Remus finally closed his book, thought for a moment and then answered the boy, "I'm Remus and surrounded by idiots."
I enjoyed Remus' words, his words always had a lasting impacting on me, and he had such an eloquent way of insulting us. James pretended to be hurt but we all agreed and he said, "James, Judgemental and Just for you." Peter gagged at his friend, and said, "I'm Peter and I am really starting to hate my life."
Lily was the next to speak, leaving me with the most thinking time, so I made sure mine at least made sense and wasn't too dark, Lily said, "I'm Lily and I'm not interested." We all knew who that was aimed at, and Sirius even laughed at James, and high fived Lily, then they all turned to me and I said, "I'm Athena and I have politically, emotionally and generally controversial opinions."
The four Marauders and Lily looked at me, blinked and decided to quickly look away, which made me grin. I had achieved my goal.
The six of us all walked back up to the castle for the goodbye feast, and after Dumbledore's speech, Remus whispered to me, "Don't eat the bread." I looked at the bread on my plate and then back at the boy, very confused, I was about to ask but it seemed he had read my mind, "Its a goodbye gift to the people of Hogwarts."
I grinned, shaking my head at him, half wondering what they did this time, and half confused as to why they didn't tell or pre warn me.
It seemed the answer to my first question was a charm to make them only say 'happy birthday' and nothing else, so, when I turned to Dumbledore as he dismissed us, all he said was, "Happy birthday." The only teacher who hadn't eaten the bread was Professor Teague (our DADA teacher), who was very cautious of carbohydrates for some reason.
Professor Teague stood up and said, "For anyone who has eaten bread, the effects will wear off in one hour. I remember doing this spell, and it only works on bread, and that's the fun story of why I never eat bread, wholemeal or not. Anyways, I think what Professor Dumbledore is trying to say is, off to bed and goodnight."
Laughing at Teague, we all made our way up to the Gryffindor common room and through the portrait hole. The fireplace was full of glowing orange embers, and the grate was keeping it in well, like a dragon in a cage. The room was mostly spotless, barring the few textbooks and quills stacked on some tables or scattered across the corner at the back which we Gryffindors like to call the study corner. Exclusively for fifth and seventh years.
Making a conversation about what we would do during the summer, Mary had joined the four Marauders, Lily, Marlene and I, and she told us about how she was going to Egypt or France this summer. She told us about how she'd always wanted to move to somewhere like Australia, where there was sun and beaches and all the stereotypical things.
Peter asked, "Sirius, you live in Grimmauld Place right?"
Sirius responded happily, falling down onto the carpet by the fire, "My parents live in Grimmauld Place, I live in the moment."
"Nobody can live in the moment however much they want to, it's the sad reality of life that it must continue, that the future must become the present sooner or later," Lily said wisely. I looked at her in surprise and asked, "Where did that come from Miss Philosopher?"
Peter asked Marlene, fiddling with his fingers when he talked to each other, "Hey Marlene, what are you going to do this summer?"
She replied calmly, "I'm having my thirteenth birthday and I'm going to struggle mentally therefore probably drink and/or smoke because it gets rid of the pain." Peter gulped, and everyone was silent for a minute until the boy spoke up again and said, "I meant like were you going to visit family? Or get your hair done? But no, that's good too."
Sirius nudged the blonde girl lightly and agreed with her saying, "Me too sister, but I think I'll wait till fifth year then it doesn't seem too much of a major problem so much so we need to see someone about it, right?" The two laughed as though there was some invisible joke. The rest of us kept quiet and confused.
After a general lull in the conversation, the boys one by one made their way up to bed, until it was only Remus left, who then left Lily with a book that she didn't let anybody see the title of, and then he walked up to bed. It was the same with the girls except, there was no book sharing involved, and there was a lot more of us.
Getting up to the dorms and I saw Alice and Aafiya already in bed, reading a book or magazine, the other two girls went to the bathroom, but Mary and I changed into our pyjamas and stood outside, waiting to go in the bathroom. Aafiya asked, "How is Marlene? I've known her for two years and I notice small things about you all, and she has this look about her which conveys sadness."
Mary, Alice and I looked at each other and shrugged. I knew that something was definitely happening with Marlene, but she never told us nor talked about it, and if she didn't want to say anything, I wouldn't pry.
Marlene had been acting a little different this time when it came closer to summer, last year she was perfectly happy, but a little thought was that something had happened over Christmas, and she didn't want to go back. Mary finally answered, "Maybe she's just sad that she's going home away from Hogwarts and her friends."
Aafiya closed her book and slid down so her head was on the pillow, answering, "Maybe."