Saturday
November 15, 1977
Great Hall
Not entirely sure if I've mentioned it previously, but James Potter is a bloody menace.
I just need to write this down for clarity of mind, but I'm really struggling to even think straight due to exhaustion.
For the past two weeks we have had a total of ten Quidditch practices, half of them at the crack of bloody dawn, and even then we only had ten practices because the Slytherins decided that they were going to try and practice during all the times we practice, so we had to cancel a few due to rescheduling.
I'm sitting in the Great Hall right now, trying my best to eat a well-rounded breakfast for the match today, but Marley is on my left staring into space because she's probably asleep except with her eyes open, and Martin-George McGonagall is chattering about some utter codswallop that nobody bloody cares about because we have our first Quidditch match of the season today.
I remember when I was nine my mother went through breathing exercises with me because I was stressed about a spelling test I had (on a side note, what's up with Hogwarts not teaching you how to properly speak the language of your country, right?) but for some reason I'm completely blanking on them right now and if there was ever a time to remember them, it would be now.
Oh no, here comes Potter.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Potter says, sitting across from us on the table, "today is the day we have been training for, and we are going to smash those Slytherin skulls into the dirt and turn them into glue and then feed that glue to their grieving families as we wave our Quidditch trophy over their heads."
"Excuse me?" asks Marley, suddenly very awake. "That's... that's so incredibly disturbing, James."
"Thank you Marlene," says Potter, grinning from ear to ear. "In other words, we have been training and training for this and I have complete faith in each and every one of you to play the best bloody game that Gryffindor has ever seen, and annihilate those Slytherins in the process. Good work team. Good chat. Finish your food, let's go.
Despite that speech being honestly awful, it does feel kind of exhilarating to be given a pep talk, so I'm going to put this away and go get ready to destroy... well, win a Quidditch match.
Wish me luck!
Saturday
November 15, 1977
Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory
Suffice to say, we did not turn the Slytherins into glue. Poor Thom Mickle almost did become glue, however, after Frieda Parkinson decided Thom's head looked more like the snitch than the snitch itself.
He managed to get to the snitch before she did anyhow, so I'm sure when he gets out of the hospital wing he'll be feeling much better.
Can I just say, Lily and Lottie truly are great friends. They made signs, big red and gold ones with Marley and Potter's and my names on them. There's something awfully encouraging about trying to fight for your life in a Quidditch match and then seeing 'BISHOP WILL BEAT YOU' flashing in the midst of the crowd. The slightly disconcerting aspect of this whole thing was seeing Lily swap posters with Black at some point during the match, and having to look at his face every time I needed encouragement. What an odd paradox I found myself in.
The game itself was pretty tricky to say the least. The Slytherins were not there to play fair, and I think there was a Hogwarts record amount of fouls played during the game (although I have to admit that us Gryffindors were the perpetrators of just a few of them). Sean Kayne and Ervyn Avery did an excellent job of using their beater's bats on Meathead Morris and not the actual bludgers, but true to his name, he was not even slightly fazed.
Also, more importantly, I scored more goals than Potter did. Luckily for Gryffindor, it was a fair amount, because our keeper's performance wasn't particularly, well, good, and so despite lack of any real skill, the Slytherins were able to score a bit more than we wanted them to.
Dorcas Meadowes, what were you doing?
The whole match her face was scrunched up into this awful scowl, and she seemed far too upset about something to actually focus on the game. Although now that I think about it I haven't really seen her and Remus together since their argument of a couple of weeks ago, so that may be a contributing factor. She's normally quite switched on during Quidditch. She's the best keeper we've had in over twenty years, but did she show that today? No. She did not.
Oh, did I forget to mention? We won. Morwenna Lestrange was maybe ten seconds off evening out the score when Thom caught the snitch. So we won by 160 points. Pretty good if I don't say so myself. It's always a good sign winning the first match if you have plans to win the Quidditch cup.
There's currently a celebration going on downstairs that I will join eventually, but I'm giving everyone time to congratulate Potter on his game before I join the party and truly steal the show. I want him to enjoy at least some of the glory, I'm not a terrible person.
Finally, I'd just like to say how happy I am that we won Quidditch. Although I still feel quite disgruntled over not being made captain, Quidditch is just something that I just really love, you know? Not even Potter can ruin it for me with his idiocy and captain-ness. Quidditch is just Quidditch.
Saturday
November 15, 1977
Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory
In all honesty, I do feel as though the Gryffindors should change their house characteristics to include 'excellent at throwing parties' because, boy, the Gryffindors sure are good at throwing parties.
This, of course, is a mostly redundant point because as previously stated: I do not like parties. Quidditch parties, however, are slightly different because everyone's on a post-win high and wants to celebrate together and that mostly includes me because I am also on a post-win high.
I know Lily enjoyed herself at least because she and Potter spent half the time snogging in some corner (I'm assuming they've moved past the 'it's a secret' phase of their relationship). It was disgusting, to say the least.
At one point Julie Ansen came up to me and asked if I'd seen Lottie, which I hadn't, and then proceeded to tell me in a very quiet voice that Mark Abery had just asked her out and she didn't want to date him but she didn't know how to say no.
Poor Mark. He's a good kid. Poor Julie. She's a better kid. Poor Louise. She's a somewhat likeable kid. All round, at least one person, if not all three, are going to get upset about this.
Also- poor me! I don't want to be stuck with the problems of these children!
The highlight of the party, unfortunately, was a group of Gryffindors clambering through the portrait hole and shouting loudly that Hestia Morris, Emmett Davis and Octavius Nubbs had been attacked by a group of Sixth and Seventh year Slytherins and were in the Hospital Wing, which sent Black and Potter into a bit of a tizzy. They rushed out of the Common Room, a bit too sloshed on butterbeer and firewhiskey for my liking, to mixed reactions of horror and cheers.
They returned twenty minutes later, looking fairly worse for the wear (Black had an eponymous eye and was limping, and Potter was sporting a nice gash on his cheek), but the triumphant gleam in their eyes showed that they probably didn't care too much about their injuries.
"We hath vanquished thy enemy!" cried Potter upon re-entering the Common Room to a loud chorus of cheers and raised glasses.
"T'was a fight to the death, a most noble death by way of fisticuffs!" Black added, raising his fists into the air.
"We only survived by the grit in our souls and the skin of our bones!" Potter said, not really making any sense.
"Huzzah!" Black yelled at last, the word echoed by the onlooking Gryffindors.
The Bloody Prat Duo then rejoined the party and I lost sight of them until Black popped up behind me, causing me to exclaim something that seemed to be a cross between a squawk and a shriek. Black started laughing and then immediately doubled over and winced, putting an end to my embarrassment fairly quickly.
"You just had to go get yourself into a fight, didn't you, Black," I said, attempting to regain my composure.
Black leaned against the wall beside us, poking gingerly at his knee. "Don't you mean to say, you just had to go and avenge the defenceless twelve year-old children who were viciously attacked for no reason, didn't you, Black?"
"Well you didn't have to fight them with your body, that's all," I grumbled. "We learn magic for a reason."
Black raised an eyebrow. "You're never going to admit that I did a good thing, are you."
It was a statement, not a question.
"I just think that maybe you should make more well thought out decisions, that's all."
"I try and I try, and yet, still nothing. You're always going to hate me, aren't you."
Again, a statement.
"I don't hate you, Black, I just find you-"
"Incredibly attractive?" Black grinned, flicking his hair back.
"You know what, I actually do-"
"Sorry, Evelyn. That was uncalled for. You were being nice and I ruined it."
What? I stared at him blankly.
"Ooh, now that's an idea," he continued, talking to himself as if he had had a sudden epiphany, "perhaps if I was actually nicer to her and less full of myself, she might actually like me. How have I never considered that before now?"
I continued staring at him.
"Look! At the very least it'll make her quiet," he grinned.
I hit him on the arm. He winced.
"Sorry," I said reluctantly. "You're a very frustrating person."
"I am well aware of that fact, but thank you for your observation."
That was weird. We just had a briefly normal conversation.
"On that note, I actually came over here to see if you could, you know, patch me up a bit. Use those Charms skills for something other than hexing antlers on top of people's heads and the like."
"Why can't you just do it yourself? You've got magic same as me. Plus you deserved those antlers."
"Now now, Evelyn, I thought we were friends?"
"That may not be an entirely accurate statement, Black. Are you so injured you're creating fantasies in your head?"
"Only about you, darling - dammit, I apologise again. I promise I'll work on that. Anyway, I could do it myself, but healing charms aren't exactly my forte, and so I trust you to do a better job than I will."
"Fine, what's wrong with you?"
Black pointed to his leg and mentioned that he may have actually broken it, but refused to say how, and then mentioned bruises on his stomach and face.
Easy enough.
I pointed my wand at his leg and muttered brackium emendo before using episky on his bruises.
He smiled after I had finished fixing him up, saying, "You're real good at that, Eva, you know that right? And thanks." He tested out his leg and then pushed away from the wall, melting back into the party with a nod goodbye.
That was a very strange encounter, if I do say so. I decided that I didn't want to think about it, so I attempted conversation with my peers, allowing myself to be sufficiently congratulated before heading upstairs to do some homework.
I do have my priorities, after all.
Although, obviously, I have been sidetracked by writing this all down, so I'm going to actually do my homework now.
Monday
November 17, 1977
Ancient Runes
The one good thing about Ancient Runes is that aside from Remus' stunningly good looks and bright, welcoming smile, there are no other distractions.
This was why I am slightly disgruntled over the fact that Lily has decided this lesson is the perfect time to talk when I very much want to get on with my work.
I also regret giving her sheets of my charmed parchment paper - remember the parchment that allows you to communicate with others by just writing on it? Yeah. I regret giving her that paper.
I've attached a copy of our conversation:
Eva, please stop ignoring me.
No. I am obviously trying to do my work. Besides, Remus is looking sad so I have to try and brainstorm ideas of how to cheer him up.
That's ridiculous - he doesn't look sad at all. And I need to talk to you about James because Lottie is too invested to give me an unbiased answer.
James, is it?
Oh shush, Eva.
Well, be quick about it then. I don't have all lesson. Remember when I said to use this parchment for emergencies and emergencies only?
This IS an emergency!
Fine.
Okay so this morning I was eating breakfast with James because you had gotten up early and when I tried to talk to Lottie she said something like ' you might be Head Girl but if you care about our friendship you'll let me sleep', so I wasn't left with very many options. Anyway, Peter was sitting with us too and asked if I would do his Potions essay for him, and James said 'do your own homework and stop trying to scam off of my girlfriend.' I didn't think anything of it at the time but thinking about it now I have just come to the realisation that he called me his girlfriend and I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with that. Am I his girlfriend? Do I want to be his girlfriend?
I thought you said it was an emergency.
Just for one second could you please give me a proper answer?
Fine. I mean obviously I still think he's a prat and a git for obvious reasons that I don't need to go into, but at risk of sounding cliche, if he makes you happy and you think he actually cares about you then I don't think you have an issue except for yourself. You're overthinking it far too much. Of course you want to be his girlfriend, you won't bloody shut up about him.
Alright, I guess so. I'll let you get back to your brainstorming. Thanks again!
So that was that. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only sane one around here.
Monday
November 17, 1977
Library
So it turns out that my observation of Remus' sadness was correct. He was sad. I shall proceed to document how I came to discover this information.
It was after dinner and I had decided that seeing as I was distracted for half of Ancient Runes I would go get some homework done in the library. I had chosen the Ancient Runes section partially because it was what I was studying, but also because no one goes to the Ancient Runes section because it's boring and fairly dusty in there. Unbeknown to the majority of the Hogwarts population, however, is that the Ancient Runes section has the best window seats to study in, so naturally, that is where I chose to study.
I was about halfway through translating the runes I had missed during the lesson when I spotted the back of Remus' head out of the corner of my eye, walking aimlessly through the bookshelves. I would like to clarify that the back of his head was also attached to the rest of his body. It wasn't just his head floating around.
Anyway, 'tis my chance!' I thought. I could ask for his help and bond with him!
"Remus," I hissed, always trying not to alert Pince to my presence.
He looked around in confusion, but spotted my nook and walked over, climbing into the space across from me.
Despite what Lily had said, I knew Remus, and I knew he was definitely upset about something. Immediately, all thoughts about asking him for help flew out the window, so to say.
"What's going on, Remus? Are you alright?"
He winced, trying to remain composed.
"I um, I..." he looked unsure of what to say next.
"You know you can tell me anything, right?"
He nodded, avoiding eye contact and staring out the window.
"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to either."
I had assumed he had chosen the latter option because he stayed staring out the window for a couple of minutes, saying nothing. Without warning, he blurted, "Dorcas and I broke up."
Let me tell you, I certainly had a variety of feelings at this statement.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I knew you liked her a lot."
I was sorry, don't think I was just saying that. No matter what I think of Remus' relationships, I just want him to be happy.
"No, it's... it's not that. It's hard to explain."
"If you try it might make you feel a bit better?"
He continued looking out the window for a few seconds, and then said, "We were fighting a bit because Dorcas felt she couldn't trust me because I wouldn't tell her all of my secrets. And by wouldn't I really mean couldn't. There are some things that you can't really just tell people, you know?"
I nodded.
"It's not that I didn't want to tell her, it's because I couldn't, as I said. Which she didn't understand," he said with a frown.
It seemed I was right about talking making Remus feel better because now that he had started he couldn't seem to stop.
"Right before the Quidditch match she came and found me and told me that if I wouldn't tell her what was going on she didn't want to see me anymore, so, like the idiot I am, I told her." Remus' frown deepened. "I'm an idiot because I though she would be able to accept it but I shouldn't have been so surprised when I saw the look of horror on her face. They always have that same look, don't they. She broke up with me then, obviously."
This was the confusing part of the story. Obviously Remus seemed to have some apparently horrifying secret, but for the life of me, I had no idea of what it could be. What could be so terrible that Dorcas would break up with him? Poor Remus.
"It's just really disheartening, because the same thing is going to happen with the next girl I date, and anyone that comes after." Remus paused, looking at me for the first time since he had started talking. He looked away again, his cheeks turning red. "I'm sorry, I said too much."
"No, Remus, it's fine," I gently placed a hand on his knee. "I understand, well, not entirely, but I understand why you're upset, and I think it's perfectly justified. Besides, you're wrong about the last thing. Once someone gets to know you well enough there's nothing you could tell them that would make them want to leave you. Dorcas is the idiot, not you."
Remus returned my smile with a half-hearted one and then climbed down off the window seat. "Thanks, Eva. I'm not really sure that you're right, but I appreciate it all the same. And if you could not mention this conversation to anyone... that would be good too."
"My lips are sealed."
He smiled properly as he ducked around the side of a bookshelf, leaving me with absolutely no ability to concentrate on my homework.
I wish I knew what Remus' secret is so I could understand this all better, but he obviously doesn't seem likely to tell me any time soon. There's no way I could ask Dorcas, besides, I'm mad at her for how she treated Remus. There's nothing he could ever say to me that would make me horrified, and I'm not even dating him. I'm tempted to have words with Dorcas. Perhaps I'll get Black to drop flobberworm mucus on her again.
Oh, perhaps Black knows Remus' secret! Then again, it isn't really my place to ask him. Perhaps I'll just mention it casually so it doesn't seem like I'm probing or anything.
I wish I had that damn map right now.
Tuesday
November 18, 1977
Gryffindor Common Room
Earlier today I took the opportunity to casually mention to my Potions deskmate that I thought the way Dorcas broke up with Remus was seriously not cool, which prompted a look of confusion far more intense than I had initially anticipated.
"Remus and Dorcas broke up?" Black whispered, glancing over my shoulder to where Remus and Peter were stirring their potion (something which we should have been doing).
"You didn't know?"
"I had no idea."
"How could you have no idea? It's been pretty obvious that he was upset."
"I've been distracted lately," Black muttered, looking annoyed. "What happened?"
"He asked me not to say... sorry."
"Not your fault, I'll ask him myself."
"It's just," I paused, thinking of how to word what I was going to say next, "Remus said Dorcas was horrified when he told her this big secret he has, and so I-"
"She what?" Black bellowed, knocking over our potion, the unfinished bright green shrinking solution spilling everywhere.
"Mr Black, what on earth is going on?" Slughorn cried, removing the mess with his wand before it could do any damage to the classroom.
"Sorry, Professor," Black said, "I accidentally knocked the potion cauldron over."
"Well please try not to disrupt my classroom again, and try to work with whatever is left in your cauldron because you do not have time to make another one."
I glanced at the now mostly-empty cauldron and grimaced at the knowledge that we might very well fail this assignment.
"Yes, Sir. Will do."
Once Slughorn had moved onto Lottie and Hollie Beckham's pungent smelling mess Black whispered, "I'm going to kill her, you know that right?"
"Well maybe don't, because we need her for Quidditch, but you could try the flobberworm thing again?"
Black seemed annoyed by the Quidditch point. "Fine. I'll only maim her slightly."
"That's better, I suppose. But about the whole secret thing-"
Black glanced at me sharply. "It's not something you need to know, but I can tell you that Dorcas is a twat, that's all. Now, we need to try and salvage our potion."
Luckily for us, Lily and Potter surreptitiously filled our vials with their potion, Lily's angelic smile cancelling out the look of suspicion that Slughorn sent our way when we handed them up.
What a crazy couple of days.
~~~~~~~~~~
AN: New chapter whoop whoop! To all my new readers: welcome, enjoy the ride, and to all my old readers: thank you for putting up with this story as long as you have, and for voting and commenting and supporting me on this journey!
Two things I'd just like to say:
1) If you're waiting for a new chapter, I often post little snippets of what I'm writing on my profile, so it's worth chucking a follow if you just want a little bit more Black! and
2) Although I have main plot points for each chapter, half of the chapter consists of scenes I come up with on the spot, so if anyone has a particular interest in some of the minor characters and subplots (Isadora James, Aislin Murphy, Mark Abery, etc), let me know because it's so easy for me to put them in for you, and I want you guys to enjoy the story as much as possible!
3) I lied, one more thing: depending on what is happening I sometimes need to introduce random characters that may only be mentioned one time (such as Emmett Davis and Hestia Morris in this chapter), but still are mentioned in the story, so if you would like your name to be used for one of these random characters, I'll use the first five names that are commented on this paragraph! (in other words, I can't be bothered coming up with character names so please help me out here)
Lastly, the GIF today is Remus Lupin looking happy because I think we all need that in our lives right now.
OXO