News of me and Sirius being together spreads like wildfire through the school, and though I'm happier than I've ever been, I'm facing a lot of backlash from all the girls he's ever screwed over.
So far, I've received three Howlers, two of them accusing me of sneaking Sirius a love potion, one of them telling me I'm nothing more than a filthy Slytherin Death Eater, and all three bursting into tears at the end. Sirius says he knows who sent every single one, but I told him I didn't want to know, claiming I couldn't care less what others think.
Girls from other houses that I've always been well acquainted with now give me nasty looks in the corridors, and I have to take specific routes in order to avoid traps they've set for me. I can't afford to drink from any glass I've left unattended, as there's a high chance it's been dosed by some potion. I even caught someone trying to steal a strand of my hair to make a Polyjuice potion and break up with Sirius while shapeshifted into me. It's an understatement to say it's getting a little out of hand.
I walk into the common room with a snickering Lily and howling Dorcas, both of them stumbling over each other in glee as they sneak glances at my hair.
The commotion gains attention, and soon a chorus of laughter is sounding through the room. I keep a determined look on my face as I march right over to the seats by the fire and stop in front of Sirius, who is comparing History of Magic answers with Remus while James messes up his own hair in the reflection of a spoon. Peter watches him out of the corner of his eye, occasionally fiddling with his own thin head of hair in relish. They all look up as I stop in front of them, their mouths falling open.
Dorcas and Lily continue to double over with laughter behind me, and the four boys all look at each other, clearly also trying to contain their amusement. Remus covers his mouth with his hand, but not before I see his wide smile, and James is suddenly shaking with barely controlled cackles.
"Hey, Cass," says Sirius calmly, but there's the hint of a smile on his face as his eyes flicker to my hair, "you look different. New robes?"
James bursts into laughter, and Remus sniggers behind his hand, Peter snorting with glee. Behind me, Dorcas has hit the floor from lack of breath, and she pulls Lily down with her.
"I don't know which one of your crazy exes did this," I start, gesturing to my full head of green hair and narrowing my eyes, "but it's the last straw."
"I think it's lovely," says Remus, and I turn my blazing eyes to him.
"Watch it, Lupin."
He puts his hands up in defence, though the amusement is still evident on his face, and James stands up, leaning forward to inspect my hair in the firelight.
"This is brilliant!" he laughs, and I smack his hand away as he reaches out to grab a strand, "Really suits you."
"Did this just happen now?" Asks Remus, putting down his work.
"She —" wheezes Dorcas, speaking for the first time since she walked in here and using the arm of the couch to get to her feet, "she — we —"
"We were in the bathroom," says Lily, who's stopped laughing by now but is still grinning from ear to ear, "and on the way out, this bucket of water, or what we thought was water, overturned on Cass, and she came out all soaking and with green hair."
Everyone laughs again, and I roll my eyes. Just then, Mary appears at the bottom of the staircase, takes one look at me, shrieks in apparent delight, and disappears back up to the dorms.
"Nice hair, Milton!" Calls Caradoc from across the room, where he sits with a howling Marcus, and I flip them both the bird.
"Do you have any idea who could've done this?" I ask icily to Sirius, and James reappears at my shoulder.
"Do you? I'd like to give them flowers," he says, and I punch him in the arm, "Ow! Okay, maybe not flowers. Kind words of appreciation."
"I'm gonna guess someone from Ravenclaw, likely older," answers Sirius, looking suddenly thoughtful.
"That doesn't narrow it down much," Remus says softly, jotting down an answer in his notes as he speaks.
We hear pounding from the stairs, and Marlene comes tumbling down, Mary hot on her heels. They both burst into laughter when they see me.
"I thought Mary was kidding!" Marlene cackles cruelly, coming over to get a better look before giving me an empathetic smile, "I went through this, Cass. Even dating Sirius for a month led to catastrophe. Girls get jealous when a guy says he doesn't date and then dates someone else."
"In my defence to those other girls," says Sirius, "I didn't even want to date you, Mar."
"Touching," she deadpans with a roll of her eyes before looking back my way, "Yes, we all know it was this lunatic you wanted." She pats me on the back, "So she's gotta face the consequences."
I groan, flopping down in James's old seat and leaning my head back onto the couch in exhaustion and exasperation.
"I'm breaking up with you."
"Always so dramatic," Sirius says, looking over at me happily. I narrow my eyes, about to say something further along the disgruntled lines when a giggling sounds behind us.
"Oh my god!"
"She fell for it!"
We all look over at the three girls that just walked in through the portrait hole, the tallest of which is staring at my hair in triumph. I feel anger boiling inside me, and I have the sudden urge to kiss Sirius so she gets jealous, or else punch her in the face, but I just stay calm, like I always do. Well, maybe not, but the best way to show I don't care is to ignore them.
"Florence Wheeler," mutters Sirius after looking back at the tall blonde seventh year, who walks alongside Bertha Jorkins, a slightly plump, pallid girl prone to gossip, and a girl who's short and Asian and whom I don't know the name of, "Probably my messiest breakup ever. We hooked up twice, and when I said we couldn't be more she destroyed half of my things and ruined my chances with her friend Jane there."
He gestures to the Asian girl.
"Oh, poor you," I say unsympathetically.
"Florence gets around even more than I do," Marlene says as she watches the blonde pass by and to the dorms, "Did you know she slept with Professor Dickburn in our third year? Of course, she was fifteen then, but still."
Professor Dockburn, or as most people called him 'Dickburn', was our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in third year. He was a nasty troll that took a little too much of a liking to the girls in his class.
"No way," I say, momentarily forgetting how mad I am, "seriously?"
"Yep," nods Marlene, "That's why he had to leave. Florence said he snuck her a love potion, but we all know she just didn't want to get expelled."
"Surely Dumbledore didn't fall for that?" I ask, but Marlene just shrugs.
"Her parents have a really big influence in the Ministry, so whether he believed it or not didn't exactly matter. McLaird interfered."
"Well, McLaird is a lunatic," says Dorcas.
"I rather like him," argues Mary, "So does Alice. We think the Ministry needed a change from all the strictness."
Lorcan McLaird, Minister for Magic. He was in Ravenclaw at Hogwarts and if I'm being honest, I agree with Dorcas. He's slightly loony.
"Sure, but a guy who communicates by puffing smoke from the end of his wand?" Asks Dorcas, shaking her head, "He's insane."
"He's eccentric," says Mary.
"Anyway," says Marlene, stopping the argument before it can get too intense, "he spoke to Dumbledore and somehow they both came out on the same side. I think Dumbledore quite likes him."
"Not as much as Leach, though," says Lily defiantly, referring to the previous Minister, who left office about eight years ago, "he was the first Muggleborn Minister, did you know? I say it was an outrage that he was driven from office—"
"Are we seriously talking about our favourite Ministers for Magic right now?" I ask, cutting across Lily, "We have a crisis on our hands!"
"Oh, relax," says Sirius, leaning over and tapping my skull with his wand. My hair melts back to black and my mouth falls open.
"You're saying you could do that the entire time and never thought to tell me?"
He shrugs, "I was enjoying your theatrics."
"In that case," I say after scoffing indignantly, "Leach was an utter snob, but he was a hot snob."
"Cheers to that," says Marlene as Sirius narrows his eyes at me and I give him a triumphant smile.
*
As April approaches, the consequences of dating Sirius die down to simple dirty looks in the halls and a few demeaning notes. It's hard to count how many girls my boyfriend has screwed over, so I stop trying.
Every teacher has the fifth years working extremely hard, and we can all be found minutes before curfew cramming as many seconds of revision in the library. Mary, Marlene, Peter, and Dorcas are especially struggling, as although they're advanced in some areas, they each struggle in a respective subject.
"I swear McGonagall is giving me more work than everyone else," grumbles Marlene, wiping at angry tears as she crumples up her fourth ruined essay.
"Just because you can't bribe her like you bribe all the male teachers," says Dorcas in agitation, and Marlene rounds on her immediately.
"Oh, as if everything is peaches and rainbows with you!" She snaps, "You'll be lucky if you scrape by with a P in Herbology!"
"Sod off!" Dorcas shouts, eyes blazing, "I'm doing better in that than you are in Transfiguration!"
"If it makes you guys feel any better, I suck at Potions," mutters Mary in a halfhearted attempt to stop the arguing.
"Here, I'll help you with Potions," says Lily, pulling Mary's homework towards her, "Alice, you can help Dorcas with Herbology, you've always been top of the class, and Cass, you help Marlene."
"I don't need help!" Marlene snaps as I lean over and glance at her paper.
"That's wrong. So is that. Exuberant doesn't have a 'g' in it, and I don't think it means what you think it means," I say as I scan her work, pointing at different sentences. She groans loudly, throwing her head back and going to crumple her essay again. "Hold on!" I grab it from her before she can maul it, "This is fixable, just give it a moment."
I tap my wand on the misspelled words, erase some others and tell her what to write instead. I do my best to explain the concept of why shape changes the difficulty of Transfiguring, and once or twice Marlene makes a soft 'oh' sound. By the end, she's scribbling out a conclusion with confidence.
Dorcas, on the other hand, is not having such luck. Alice, though incredibly talented in Herbology, can't do anything to help the stubborn girl, who refuses to listen.
"This is just stupid!" She all but shouts, slamming her book shut and making Alice and Mary jump on either side of her, "Screw being an Auror. I'll just sell my parents' heirlooms on the black market."
With that she stands up, much to Alice's despair, and leaves the library. Mary, meanwhile, is scanning through her book, jotting down answers, and muttering under her breath.
"Done!" She exclaims breathlessly, a bright grin on her shining face, "Lily, I could kiss you."
"If you must," the red head says placidly, not even glancing up from her own work. Mary hugs her tight, squealing with apparent glee as Marlene also slams her quill down with a triumphant smile.
"Take that, McGonagall," she says in spite at the far wall, shaking out her cramped hand.
"Great." I smile, "Now you can start up on your Silencing Charm and Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment."
She looks at me before slumping over her work and letting out an animalistic sound of fury and defeat.
"Here, let me display," I say cheerfully, pointing my wand at her as she continues to groan, "Silencio."
Her voice cuts off in the air, and her head snaps up to glare at me as everyone snickers in appreciation. Marlene mouths something that looks like a string of crude swear words, and I grin before performing the counter spell and leaning back.
"I think I've mastered that."
"You're the worst." Marlene kicks my chair leg angrily before sulking over her work once more, "And this is the worst. The professors aren't giving us any time to have fun. There's about six separate boys I could be hanging out with right now, including Marcus Borden."
"I liked it better when she didn't talk," mumbles Alice, and we all laugh again.
"This is important, Mar," presses Lily, "don't you want to be an Auror?"
"Maybe," says Marlene with a slight shrug, picking at the edge of her parchment, "I don't know why all of you do so badly. It's not all it's cracked up to be."
We all share knowing looks. Marlene's parents are Aurors, along with her aunts, uncles, and older cousins, and with how dark the times are right now, her household must be anything but a joy.
"They need everyone they can get right now," says Alice quietly, "You-Know-Who is getting stronger every day. He's got so many followers, and he'll have more once Malfoy and that lot graduate. We have to help balance it out. We have to fight."
"We don't have to do anything!" Marlene says fiercely, and Mary jumps.
"If we don't, we'd be betraying--"
"Marlene is right," I cut off Alice, "we aren't obligated to do anything. We have a choice. It's not up to us to defeat the Darkest wizard of all time."
They all look surprised, and I guess they didn't expect to hear these words come from someone so hell bent on getting rid of Death Eaters. I sigh.
"But Alice is also right, they need all the help they can get. You either fight, or you don't, and no one gets to judge you either way. The world doesn't consist of fighters and cowards, just like it doesn't consist of good people and Death Eaters. There's always an in between. If you don't want to be an Auror--" I say to Marlene, "-- you don't have to."
She stares at me for a moment, looking slightly relieved, then nods in determination.
"I do want to be one," she says firmly, "I'm just . . ."
"Scared?" I finish, "Yeah, I think we all are."
It's quiet for a bit, all of us staring at different spots on the table. We don't really talk about these things much, because it's depressing to think about how awful it's getting. Every day, students check the Daily Prophet to see if anyone they know has died or gone missing. Just last week, a Hufflepuff boy named Dedalus Diggle got pulled out of History of Magic and was told that his father had been killed in battle. He only just got back this morning, looking completely devoid of his usual squeaky enthusiasm.
Every one of my friends has spoken about becoming an Auror, or else finding some way to fight against the Death Eaters. Even Mary, who's always been jumpy and cries late into the night, is determined to bring up her marks so she can get an exceeding in every O.W.L required. I've never told my family about my ambitions, because it's likely they'd be the ones I'm hunting. I dread the day I have to unmask my brother, even more than I dread the day I have to go home for the summer. What with how angry my father will be that I'm no longer in Slytherin combined with my usual defiance against his insistent on training us in the Dark Arts, I doubt it'll be long before I'm disowned. I'm unbothered; I'd rather live in poverty than become a Death Eater.