Little Miss Marauder

Chapter 32 - Two Remained

Chapter 32 - Two Remained

Lily had never been less sure of a decision until the day before the first Hogsmeade trip in their sixth year. After the first five years of constantly having James Potter pester her for a date, she had finally agreed. As much as she claimed it was just so he would stop, Lily had actually started to be charmed by the older Potter twin. The pranks they had time for between studying and Remus' prefect duties were mainly focused at each other or the teachers, only straying to Slytherins when younger students where upset by prejudices displayed by some of them. It had also been a full year since she had spoken to Severus and heard his consistent moaning about the group.

As much as she was actually looking forward to this, Lily was also sure that James would not enjoy the date as much as he was anticipating. He was a chaser after all, now that she had actually agreed to go out with him, surely he would be tired of the game. Despite this fear, Lily had enlisted her dormmates to help her get ready. "Who would've thought that Little Lily would be the only one of us to have a date to the first Hogsmeade trip. I mean... Lily! And with James bloody Potter, of all people."

"Thanks Marlene, love you too." Lily laughed. "I mean, other than the other person, this can't be that unexpected. Frank is ill so Alice won't have a date. You have already cycled through all the people in our year and the one above. Then Cassadee, I mean, there's no chance anyone would be able to ask her out with those four always leering over her shoulder. So yeah, the date being with James should be the only surprise there." The rest of the room joined in the laughter after Lily's rant. They all knew that Lily had started to take an interest in James once the Marauders had toned down the pranks, even before Severus had spoken so abhorrently to her. They knew it was just a matter of time until the girl agreed to a date with him.

Whilst Cassadee was slowly falling back to sleep and Lily was fussing over her scarf, Alice had been bugging Marlene about who her next date should be. "Fine, if not Bones, how about Sirius?"

"You can't be serious? Black? Really Alice?"

"No he's Sirius." Cassadee face palmed herself after saying it, so used to mimicking the boys joke. A pillow was also thrown her way, displaying her friends distaste for the joke. "But really, Black? Never. I'm just going to spend the day with Charlie, the blonde from Hufflepuff." Alice and Lily exchanged a glance at this, having seen the two chatting and staring at each other in their shared classes. Luckily for them both, Marlene did not see the look or a pillow would be flying towards them both as well.

"Besides, how about we focus on finding Cass a date rather than me. She hasn't been on one since that disaster with Diggory at Christmas last year."

"I thought we agreed to not bring that up. Ever." The younger Potters voice was muffled due to the pillow still lying over her face. "Besides, the ten minutes we were alone before James and his band of twits turned up barely counts as a date."

"That's fair. Diggory is a no go again. How about Peter?"

"Pettigrew? Never, he's way to shy for Cass. Remus would be better." Retorted Alice.

"Remus, that could work. If we get Lily to distract James, not like that would be hard, we could definitely get them alone."

"I think you're forgetting a key point here," Lily pitched in. "Sure James will be easy to distract, but Sirius has become just as protective of her. Not a chance they would both leave her alone. Especially on the first trip to Hogsmeade."

"I don't think that is the only key point here." Cassadee finally sat up. "Remus would never think of us hanging out as a date. He's like my best friend?!"

"But would you want him to think of it as a date? I didn't hear a denial there" Sang Marlene.

"What? No.... No." Cassadee blushed, purely out of frustration. She loved Remus of course, but never in that way. They were too similar. Too afraid to love anyone.

A murmur of agreement carried through the three other girls. The conversation went back to Lily for the next five minutes before she left, but Cassadee just knew they hadn't dropped the subject.

In the boys dormitory, Remus was attempting to calm down Sirius, who seemed to be doing the freak out on behalf of James, who was just sat frozen on his bed. "She actually agreed to go out with him. Lily Evans agreed to go on a date with James. James Potter."

"We know padfoot, we were there."

"I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation Peter. Lily AND James are going on a date." He all but spelled out. "As I said, we know." Sirius continued to freak out until they ushered James to the common room, not wanting Lily to wait and change her mind. He really needed James to be busy today. Thankfully, Lily and James headed off without much delay, everyone else following them down to Hogsmeade shortly after. Only two of the sixth years remained.

He turned to her, striding over and grabbing her hips, pulling her closer to him. She looked up, two eyes locking together and just staring. It felt like forever before their lips touched. Every time felt like the First and last that they could be together like this. Just them, in their perfect bubble, no outside opinions and trouble. Both of them knew that they couldn't keep this away from their friends for long, but it felt so right to. It seemed like it was the only option at this point. This had been going on for too long without them saying anything that saying it now would lead to a myriad of issues.

She was first to remember this, pulling away and stepping back. He looked at her as though it was the first time seeing her again. She was the sun to his Icarus, all he every wanted to be close to, but now, she was melting away the wings, leaving him to fall further away from her than he had ever been before. How did one look cause such distance and devastation to them? With all of the others so distracted with James and Lily this was supposed to be good for them.

Cassadee sat at her desk, looking over the sixth year essays she had to mark, reminiscing her own sixth year. Pulling away from him that Saturday was one of the only decisions she regretted in her schooling. She knew how much he cared for her, that was why she had to pull away, she didn't deserve that kind of love. She had melted his wings, she couldn't burn him as well. It had taken years to get back to where they were before that day. Merlin, she wasn't sure they had ever gotten back to how they were before, not after she was taken away by the ministry. Not when she felt as though the wolf inside her was better. At least the wolf called itself a monster.