James Potter woke early as he did every morning, much earlier than most in the castle. He used to sleep in, snoring and drooling on his pillow while the rest of castle ate their breakfast, however Seventh year brought quite the change upon James Potter when he was awarded head boy before the start of the year.
He had worked extra hard to fix his careless reputation at the end of sixth year, realizing that immaturity was what was keeping him from the one thing he couldn't have, but wanted the most, Lily Evans.
Lily had always been an excellent student. She worked hard and enjoyed learning, she was kind and respectful and devoted her life to her friends and her education. It took James six years to realize that an irresponsible git like himself couldn't possibly attract such a perfect girl.
Pranks were out, books were in. Sirius was quite disappointed to see his best mate and partner in crime develop such a commitment to his education, and loose his commitment to the mischievous life of the Marauders, but of course, for the girl his best friend loved, he supported.
Hard work and dedication payed off when James was titled Head Boy, and boy was he ready to tell Lily the news.
Her jaw would have hit the floor had it not been attached by the bone, when she saw James' smug face walking up to her, his pin shining right before her. She couldn't believe someone as ridiculous and stupid and arrogant as James Potter could have been given such a title.
Since the beginning of seventh year, James confidently approached Lily, his Head Boy pin gleaming as bright as his eyes when he looked at her, she was perfect in every way, his beautiful flower, never to be tainted, never to wilt, his Lily Flower.
She'd roll her eyes at the sight of him, not blistering his ego for a second, not a single thing she said could ever make him loose hope for their beautiful future together.
He'd offer his help or company for studying, he'd proudly show off his hard work and dedication, he'd happily and humbly admit when he didn't understand something, the perfect excuse to talk to Lily and ask for help.
Of course his attempts didn't work, not at first, at least, but that never held him back before, he wouldn't give up on his beautiful Lily Flower, how could he?
Over time, however, his hard work seemed to pay off, oblivious to him, he didn't notice the way Lily's eyes began to slightly light up when his voice was heard, how her cheeks began to gently flush at the sight of that James Potter grin, he didn't notice her extra glances in his direction from across the room. He didn't notice, but everyone else did.
One day James was approached in the library by Lily's best friend, Marlene McKinnon, a conflicted frown plastered on her face. He looked up from his book and smiled at her, charming as ever.
"I see you talking to Lily." She said suspiciously, her eyebrow raised.
"I'm always talking to Lily." Said James simply. "How can I not?"
"What are you playing at, Potter?" Marlene pressed, crossing her arms across her chest.
James shrugged. "Dunno what you mean, McKinnon. I've been after Evans since first year, why the sudden interest."
"Because you're different now." Marlene said obviously. "You aren't pestering her about going out with you or playing foolish pranks on the school, you only care about school these days."
It was true, James hadn't asked Lily out a single time this year, he'd decided that if he wanted to have her, begging for her attention wasn't going to get him anywhere, he had to earn it.
"I've decided that it's time to put my childish ways beside and focus on what really matters, it's my final year and I'd like to graduate knowing I worked hard to earn it, knowing that I deserve it."
Marlene blinked at him. "You're full of shit."
"I'm not!" He exclaimed. "I don't want Evans to think of me as that immature little boy anymore, so that's no longer who I want to be."
"You're doing all of this for her?" Asked Marlene, not buying it for a second.
"That's right." James nodded. "This year is the year I finally show Lily that I'm worthy to love her, she's my whole world, and I intend to give that right back to her."
Marlenes suspicions features dropped slowly as he went on, and began looking rather pleased with him. "That's impressive, Potter, but it's gonna take a lot more than some books and responsibility to win her over."
"I'm well aware of that, McKinnon." Said James. "I respect Lily much more than I've let on the past few years, I won't bother her with foolishness that I know will displease her."
"If you still like her so much, why've you stopped asking her out then?" Marlene continued to question.
"Because she'll say no, I don't want to annoy her, but I do plan to ask her to study with me after Christmas break." James had been planning it for weeks, and he had decided on this just days before they would be returning home for the holidays.
"And you think she'll agree to that?" Mused Marlene.
"Do you?" James asked with a charming smile, and Marlene hesitated for a moment.
"I reckon theirs a chance." She admitted. "She's different around you this year, less angsty."
"Is she?" Said James cluelessly.
Marlene rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "You like her so much, yet you're not even the slightest bit observant."
"I don't know what you mean." James admitted.
"Oh, for the love of Godric, Potter." She scoffed. "She's turning into a bloody mess, acting like a love driven school girl when you come around. She may not be able to admit it and you may bot be able to see it but the rest of us do, you're turning her soft on you and I don't like it one bit."
"Why not?" James asked. "All I want to do is treat her how she deserves."
"She deserves someone who will respect her." Marlene pressed angrily. "Not a manipulative moron who gets whatever he wants just by batting his eyelashes and flashing his Head Boy badge."
"Manipulative?" James said, quite shocked. "I haven't manipulated anyone." He defended himself.
"You're manipulating Lily right now, acting all well behaved so that she'll give you the chance she's denied you for years, just for you to go on and hurt her." Marlene accused James, refusing to be fooled and allow her best friend to be hurt by yet another one of his selfish acts.
James sighed and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "Look McKinnon, I'm not chasing Evan's anymore. I've spent six years doing her head in trying to get her to date me, well I've realized I've gone about it all wrong. I'll continue to focus on my top priority, excelling in my classes, and in my spare time, I'll continue to do whatever I can to prove to Lily that I'm serious about giving myself a good future and that I want to be able to give her that as well."
Marlene still wasn't ready to budge, however she'd be lying if she said she didn't completely believe him. "You really are mad for her, aren't you?"
"Absolutely bonkers." He confirmed, and honestly, that was good enough for Marlene.
"If you hurt her... in any way imaginable, I swear to you, Potter, I will not show you mercy." She warned, leaning down closer to him so that he would know that she was very serious about this.
"I'd never do anything to hurt her." Said James confidently. "She's the love of my life."
"Very well, then." Marlene accepted, standing herself back up and crossing her arms once more. "I wish you good luck."
James nodded. "Thank you." And without another word, Marlene spun around and strode out of the library.
After that conversation, James was more than confident about asking Lily to study with him. He planned what he would say throughout all of Christmas break, and when the returned for school, the first thing he did after the feast was go and find her.
It took some persuasion, no problem there, he wouldn't give up, until it finally happened, she agreed. Lily Evans, the one and only girl that ever crossed the mind of James Potter, accepted his proposal to study with him before breakfast.
He was ecstatic, he wasted no time to throw himself out of his bed and quickly shower and dress himself he was out of the dormitory quicker than a golden snitch, passing the beds of his sleeping friends, so focused on meeting with her in the library, he didn't even notice the double pair of snores coming from Moony's bed, while his little sister lay asleep behind the curtains of Sirius Blacks bed frame.
Hours later, Raina awoke, immediately confused by her surroundings. She was in a bed, surrounded by crimson bed curtains, instead of her own satin emerald ones in her dormitory.
She rubbed her eyes and drew back the curtains, greeted by Peter Pettigrew, who was tying his tie in front of Sirius' mirror.
"Peter?" She said curiously. Peter whipped around, startled.
"Raina?" He questioned, shocked. "H-how did you get in here?" He nervously asked, tightening his tie a little to tight around his neck.
"I wonder the same thing." She said, rolling her eyes, when Sirius Black walked out of the bathroom humming to himself, hair damp, towel wrapped around his waist.
"Oh!" Sirius exclaimed. "You're awake." He said happily, smiling radiantly at her.
Raina couldn't help but stare at his body, still wet from his shower, she watched beads of water roll down his abs. His body was breath taking, she felt so shameful looking at him, so shameful that she couldn't look away, that is, until Sirius spoke up.
"Mind if you uh... turn around so I can change?" He asked awkwardly, and Raina immediately snapped her eyes from his body to his eyes, her cheeks glowing red from embarrassment. She turned her head around, mentally cursing herself for looking at him in such a way, her brothers best friend, what was she thinking?
"Alright." Sirius grinned. "You can look now."
Raina slowly turned her head back to see Sirius in his fine robes, yet to put on his tie.
"How did I get in here?" Asked Raina sheepishly.
"Carried you up here." Said Sirius simply, shooing Peter out of the way of the mirror so that he could tie his own tie. "You fell asleep in the astronomy tower last night, couldn't very well leave you there in the cold, couldn't get into Slytherin common room, so I brought you here."
"Too sleep in your bed..." Said Raina awkwardly.
"Yes."
"Did... did you sleep here with me?" She asked hesitantly.
"I slept with Moony." He reassured her.
"Yeah, which might I add, is never bloody happening again." Said Remus, irritated as he tired his shoes. "Mans a bloody menace, kept me up all night stealing the blankets and putting his cold arse feet all over me."
Raina let out a giggle and felt more relaxed knowing that Sirius had not only had the decency to sleep in a separate bed, but close the curtains around her as well.
"I reckon I better get to the dungeons, I suppose I might miss breakfast." She said, throwing her legs out from the bed, though not terribly upset about missing breakfast, she never ate it anyways.
"Would you like me to bring you anything? I can bring some food to you during one of my free periods?" Sirius offered this happily. Words were too little to describe the joy that watching Raina willingly eat the night before had brought him.
"That won't be necessary." She told him. "I'll manage."
"W-well lunch then, you can eat something at lunch." He nodded his head, looking at her hopefully.
Raina smiled at Sirius, a genuine smile at that, and nodded her head. Perhaps she would eat a bit at lunch, why not?
"Good." Said Sirius, pleased. With one final wave goodbye, Raina stepped out of their dormitory, and quickly made her way to the dungeons to prepare herself for the day.
Classes were slow and meaningless as always, Raina did her best to keep her head up and mind focused on Professor McGonagall as she trailed on and on about continuing where they left of before break regarding non-verbal spells.
As always, there was nothing eventful about the day until lunch came. As Raina was making her way to the great hall, something had caught her attention.
A third year Ravenclaw girl was crying before a boy who looked quite displeased with her reaction to whatever he had just said or done. Raina recognized the boy immediately, it was Barty Crouch Jr, he was a seventh year. He was a foul git that hung around mainly with Lucius and Crabbe, though the rest of their friends weren't too fond of him. Raina in particular was never a fan of the boy, he was quite vile and annoying; always licking the corner of his mouth like some sort of reptile and happened to be on of Roger Davis' most loyal followers.
Raina decided to change her course and make her way over to the crying girl and Crouch. "What's going on?" She asked defensively, standing closer to the girl rather than Crouch, who rolled his eyes immediately.
"Emilee here was just cleaning herself up, weren't you, Emilee?" Said Crouch, venom spilling out of his mouth.
The girl had strawberry blonde hair, she immediately wiped her nose and sniffed, nodding her head quickly.
"Good girl." Crouch said evilly before turning to Raina. "I was just getting ready to accompany Miss Emilee to lunch, she'll be sitting with me and my friends today, won't you dear?"
Emilee continued to wipe her face and nod ferociously. Raina immediately felt a sick feeling in her stomach, she didn't trust Crouch anymore than she trusted Davis.
"How old are you, love?" Raina asked the girl quietly, ignoring Crouch entirely. Emilee sniffed, pulling her strawberry blonde hair that stuck on her face by tears and mucus out of her eyes.
"F-fourteen." She said, her voice breaking slightly.
"Fourteen." Raina repeated, looking at Crouch, disgusted. "And what year are you?"
"Th-third year, ma'am." The girl trembled, obviously intimidated by Raina as well, no doubt thanks to her green and silver tie that her eyes kept unwillingly dropping to.
"Ma'am isn't necessary." Raina frowned. "My name is Raina, and you are far to young to be hanging out with Crouch and his friends. They eat pretty little girls like you up for breakfast."
"Well lucky for her, we're going to lunch, and we wouldn't like to miss the whole meal." Crouch spat bitterly at Raina. "So if you don't mind?"
"I mine a great deal, actually." Said Raina just as bitterly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "What business do you have with a third year girl?"
"That's none of your concern now, is it?" Said Crouch impatiently. "You really shouldn't poke your nose where it doesn't belong, Potter. Not even a green tie makes you untouchable." He grinned nastily at her.
"Are you threatening me, now?" Raina cocked her eyebrow up, "Are you really so foolish?"
"Of course not." Crouch said innocently. "Just giving you some friendly words of advice, though, say I were threatening you, I don't see Black and Rosier at your sides ready to do anything about it. How foolish of you to walk around so exposed, so vulnerable."
Raina glared daggers into his eyes. Who did he think he was? He was nobody. Raina ignored his last remark and turned her attention back to Emilee, who had now managed to clean her face up despite her flushed cheeks and puffy eyes. "Would you like to sit with me and my friends? I promise we're much friendlier than this prat."
Emilee sniffed once more and nodded her head. With one more angry glance at Crouch, who bore a deadly stare right back, Raina put her arm around the girl and guided her to the great hall.
"Are you alright?" She asked Emilee.
"He's been following me around since the start of term." Said Emilee quietly. "Always making foul comments and touching my arms and legs, never taking 'no' for an answer."
"Him and all of his friends are the same." Raina said bitterly. "I don't think it wise to go near him anymore."
"But—but he follows me he—"
"Leave him to me, he won't bother you any longer, I'll make sure of it." Raina promised, and Emilee began to cheer up a bit after that. They walked into the great hall and made their way to the marauders at Gryffindor table. They sat where they normally did, talking amongst themselves and laughing, only this time, Raina noticed, they had an extra addition.
Sitting to James' right was Lily Evans, in conversation with her brother. She had a warm smile on her face, genuinely enjoying the conversation that she and James were having when Raina and Emilee walked up to them.
"Evans?" Said Raina. "Why are you sitting here?" She asked suspiciously. Lily's eyes immediately disconnected from James and made their way to Raina, her warm happy features replaced with uncomfortable ones.
"Oh, James and I were just... we studied for a bit in the library before breakfast we were just going over plans for our next session." Said Lily awkwardly. Raina eyed her, unimpressed, her gaze switching between the two.
"Interesting." She said, one eyebrow raised, and James looked at her cluelessly, the biggest smile on his face that Raina had ever seen. He was truly in heaven sitting next to Lily and talking to her, it was everything he could have dreamed of.
"Who's this you've brought?" Said Remus, trying to defuse the tension between the two girls.
"This is Emilee." Raina introduced her to the five. They all kindly said hello, and she did the same shyly. "She'll be sitting with us."
"Plenty of room." Said James. "Make yourself at home." Emilee thanked him and sat down beside Remus, immediately asking him about his scars.
"Those are fascinating." She said. "However did you get them?"
Everyone looked around uncomfortably before Remus cleared his throat. "Er... my father is quite fond of large magical creatures, sometimes I assist him when things get out of hand."
Emilee nodded her head. "I see." She looked down to see the same scars covering the back of his hands. "They're quite beautiful, you know?" Remus snorted. "No, really." She insisted. "They tell a story, a story of strength and survival, you should be very proud of all of these scars."
Remus looked at her with a smile, and Peter and Sirius agreed with her, though they knew that the true culprit of these scars was himself, they agreed nonetheless.
"You all keep her company for a moment," Said Raina. "There's something I need to do."
Raina walked over to the Slytherin table, Sirius' eyes on her the whole time as he watched her take a seat across from Evan and Regulus, his body language switched instantly, tensing at the sight of her talking to them.
"Raina?" Asked Evan, shocked by her approach. She cut right to the chase and didn't waste time to make awkward small talk.
"I want you two to keep and eye on crouch." She told them. The two glanced over at the table to see him talking quietly with his group of friends.
"...Why?" Asked Regulus, even hearing his voice was painful, but she swallowed her emotions.
"See that girl sitting next to Remus?" She nodded in Emilee's direction, and the two looked over to see her on happy conversation with Lily.
The two turned back to Raina and nodded their heads.
"She's fourteen." Said Raina. "And freshly too, she's in third year."
"So?" Asked Evan.
"So, I want Crouch far away from her." She told them. "I saw her crying because of him on my way here, and she told me that he's been following her and touching and speaking to her in ways that make her uncomfortable. I want him far away from her."
"And you can't manage to do that yourself?" Said Evan, earning a harsh glare from his former friend.
"Crouch doesn't take me seriously anymore because I don't have you lot at my side every waking moment anymore." She told him dryly.
"And you want us to keep an eye out for some little Ravenclaw?" Evan went on.
"Yes I do because I don't want her to be the next girl laying in an empty corridor with her skirt around her ankles, is that too much to ask?" She said quietly and harshly through her teeth, causing Evan to drop his uninterested look.
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh." Said Raina, rolling her eyes. "I know we aren't on the best terms but I can't look out for her like you two can. Can you promise me you'll keep an eye on him, and if you see him near her you'll shut it down?"
Evan glanced at Regulus who hadn't taken her eyes off of Raina once. There she was again, being perfect. Caring for a girl she had known for fifteen minutes, worrying for her safety and even being big enough to put aside her own feelings and anger just to make sure that they would look out for her and keep her safe.
"Yes." Said Regulus instantly, and Raina's eyes locked with his.
His eyes widened for a moment before he composed himself again. "You have my word, and Evan's too, Crouch won't go anywhere near the girl."
Raina looked at Evan to get his confirmation, he gazed at Evan for a moment longer before pulling his attention back to Raina. "My word."
"Thank you both, so much truly." She said happily, and stood up to join her friends at Gryffindor table. She took a seat next to Sirius who had already put together a plate for her, reassuring her that there was no pressure and he would eat anything she couldn't.
Regulus stared at her in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he had just saw, was her sure he had even seen it at all?
"What is it, mate?" Evan asked his friend, slightly concerned.
"Raina's eyes." He said, not looking away from her.
Evan blinked at him, confused. "What about them?"
Regulus bit the inside of his cheek, completely shocked. "They're hazel."