Study Date | James Potter

Chapter 5 - "What's She Doing Here?"

"Black! Give me back my toast!" Rose glared at Sirius. Unfortunately for her, most of it was already in his mouth.

He looked at her with wide eyes as he chewed and swallowed. "Oops."

Rose sighed. Watching your plate every minute seemed to be very important when you were eating with four hungry teenage boys. It was shocking, and rather disgusting, how much food the Marauders managed to shovel in each mealtime - they were like animals.

A hand next to her deposited another slice of toast on her plate. "Here you go love," James smiled at her, before taking her spare hand in his.

"Thanks Jamie," she leant towards him and kissed him on the cheek, then turned back to glare at Sirius across the table, who pretended to gag at their display of affection. "At least somebody here has manners."

He smirked. "You leave it unwatched it's fair game Evans, you should know that by now." Rose stuck her tongue out at him, which turned into a large yawn.

It had been weeks since James and Rose's Hogsmeade date, and she'd been spending a lot of time with him, and consequently the Marauders. Not that she would admit it, but Rose had grown fond of the boys.

She tended to eat meals at the Gryffindor table now, which both helped maintain her fake relationship, and also kept her away from her fellow Slytherins. Previously, she had mostly been ignored but now her housemates sneered at her whenever she crossed their paths - even some of the first years - and she tended to hear the word 'mudblood' three times a day at the very least. The exceptions to this were of course Valentina and Matthew, who knew the relationship was fake, although Rose was sure that the two would have still stuck by her had it been real.

To the rest of Hogwarts, James and Rose were now an official couple. After the initial surprise many were supportive, although there were some comments about how James had 'traded one Evans for another' or worse - on multiple occasions she had had to stop her friends from hexing somebody, on the reassurance that she would prank them later.

When the Marauders and Rose had finished breakfast, they trooped up to Gryffindor Tower. That was how around an hour later Rose came to be sprawled across the sofa in the common room, her legs on James's lap and a half completed essay lying on her stomach, while Sirius carefully slipped a cushion beneath her sleeping head.

"Aww. Little Rosie Posie fast asleep," the boy grinned, as he took her essay and set it on the table.

"She does actually look quite sweet lying there." Added Remus, looking up from his potions essay.

James sighed, gently brushing her hair off her face. "I don't think she's been sleeping well since this started," he murmured. "I mean, you've heard what the Slytherins have been saying, and she has to spend her nights among those bastards. She probably doesn't feel safe in her own bed." The boys' faces turned solemn as they thought about the Slytherins.

Sirius's face twisted. "Well there's no sense in stopping it if that's what you're thinking. She's already a muggleborn in Slytherin, and now they've remembered that. They're not going to forget anytime soon, so she'd just be worse off without us protecting her - poor girl. She must be terrified."

Their moment of brooding silence was suddenly interrupted: "Remus, there you are. Here are the notes from Ancient Runes the other day that you asked fo- what's she doing here?"

The common room was reasonably full, but from the hush that fell over it at that moment, nobody would have known.

Lily's mouth curled into a sneer. "She may be your girlfriend Potter, but that in no way means that Snake is allowed in Gryffindor Tower."