Riley Spade is the fifth member of the marauders. Her mind is full of ideas but also filled with worry. She looks like she has the perfect life; a loving family, life-long friends, good grades... It's all until the turning point of her life, war rag...
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17th of June, 1978
"Who are you going to the ball with?" asked Riley to Mary.
"Benjy," answered Mary shortly.
"What?! Didn't you break up with him months ago?" said Riley in shock.
"Yeah, I guess he just couldn't get over me. I gotta say, I'm charming," said Mary.
The End of the Year Ball was going to be held on the 19th of June. It was only for the seventh years, was sort of like a graduation party. Although it's name, it wasn't fully like a ball. It wasn't very formal. Surely, there would be many things prepared, but it wasn't very fancy.
It was mostly organized by Professor Slughorn, he had insisted to allow everyone to come. Primarily, he had planned it to make it only for the Slug Club members, until Lily decided to convince him to open it up for everyone.
Riley was excited, but she still didn't have a date.
"Who's your date?" asked Mary.
"No one!" said Riley with a sigh.
"What?! I thought that Hufflepuff boy was asking you!" said Mary.
"What? Which one?"
"I don't know his name, but he looked like he was gonna wet himself when he sat next to you in Charms last week," said Mary.
"Or he just thought I was a disgusting muggle-born like everyone else," said Riley with an eye-roll.
"Come on, look at the bright side," said Mary. "You can easily meet someone new at the ball and spend the night with him..."
"Go away, Mary."
"Have fun!"
***
19th of June, 1978
Riley wore a dark red dress with hints of black in it. She had her hair down, and applied her makeup right before she left the dormitory. Everybody had left already, she was running a bit late to the ball.
She walked down the stairs and reached the room it was going to be held in. The doors were grand, she stepped in front of them, and they started to open slowly.
Everybody was either up on their feet, dancing, or sitting down and laughing and talking with their friends. There was lively music, were decorations and lights hung up around the humongous place.
She walked towards the people she recognized. Peter wasn't there, Riley assumed he was with Jasmine. James and Lily were visibly dancing, Remus and Sirius were talking to each other with smiles on their faces.
"Is that—" asked Riley as she pointed at the glasses filled with a bubbly drink.
"Firewhiskey. I was shocked too, didn't know Slughorn would be such a thoughtful person," said Sirius.
"Great," said Riley and took one of the glasses. She sat next to the others. She then looked at Sirius and Remus who were eyeing her, practically staring at her. Remus raised his eyebrow.
"Ugh, I'll leave," said Riley and left the two alone to talk.
She looked around to see if there were any others who were alone. She remembered what Mary said, but there didn't seem to be any boys alone who she knew weren't Slytherins.
"Hello!" said a voice behind Riley. She turned around, it was Marlene.
"Aren't you supposed to be with Dorcas?" asked Riley.
"Yeah, she's getting us drinks," said Marlene. "Why are you alone?"
"Because I don't have a date."
"What?! I would totally date you if you fancied girls!" said Marlene.
"Awe, that's very sweet," said Riley with a smile.
"Anyways, I really need to go, I don't want Dorcas to kill me," said Marlene.
"Oh — all right —" Riley stuttered but Marlene had already gone. Riley eventually sat on an empty chair she found. She watched everyone dance and laugh. Of course, she could next to her friends, have a chat. But she didn't want to interrupt or ruin their time with their loved ones.
She saw Ralph in the corner Esther Greengrass. She was a pureblood Slytherin. Riley wasn't jealous, she felt good to be away from Ralph for many months. She hated him. She was still angry, but she didn't show it.
"Finally!" said a voice. It was Peter with a drink in his hand, now pulling a chair next to Riley and smiling. "She dumped me!"
"And you're happy?" asked Riley.
"Yes! Do you know how many times I tried to break up with her? Millions, so many fucking times! I'm so relieved she finally dumped me," said Peter and sipped his drink. "She was so annoying, remember how she got mad because I didn't send her letters everyday? That would kill a fucking owl!"
"I'm happy for you, I guess," said Riley. "Didn't that happen on Christmas? That was months ago, why didn't you break up with her?"
"Unfortunately, not everybody is blunt like you, Crim," said Peter. Riley chuckled. "If I had told her that, she would've probably killed me on the spot."
"Cheers, then," said Riley as she raised her glass of firewhiskey up. Peter raised his, clinking their glasses.
"You look sad," said Peter. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong."
"That's obviously a lie."
"No it isn't."
"I've known you for seven years, I know you too well," said Peter. "And that's a lie."
"Merlin, even my mum can't tell if I'm lying or not," said Riley. "That would've gotten me into so much trouble."
"I know more about people than you think," said Peter. "For example, I know almost everybody's middle name."
"You don't know mine," said Riley as laughed.
"Riley Thea Spade," said Peter with a smile. Riley gasped.
"How do you know my middle name?!" she asked in shock.
"I know Marlene's middle name," said Peter. "And Dorcas, Mary... Even Regulus, Lena Thatcher, and Ralph Sherman—"
"How do you know them all?!" asked Riley.
"Let me tell you all; Marlene Macey Mckinnon, Dorcas Jane Meadowes, Mary Eleanor Macdonald, Regulus Arcturus Black, Ralph Paul Sherman, Lena Irene Thatcher..."
"Oh my — woah," said Riley. "I'll make fun of all of them after this shitty ball is over."
"Shitty? It's the best day ever!" said Peter loudly and looked at Jasmine with the corner of his eye. "I also know James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily's, but you probably know them."
"I don't know Lily's and James'!" said Riley. "Wait — is it James Fleamont Potter? Oh my god... I'll definitely use this against him!"
"And Lily Josephine Evans," said Peter.
"Lily Josephine Evans?" said Riley laughingly. "Oh my god!"
"We'll call her Jo for short," said Peter. He then paused and looked at Riley. "Do you wanna dance?"
"Wh — what?" asked Riley confusedly.
"As friends," said Peter. "Come on, we have to make sure we have the best time, it's our last weeks here!"
"All right, Peter I-Don't-Know-Your-Middle-Name Pettigrew." Riley stood up.
"I don't have a middle name," said Peter and stood up.
