𝐣𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 - 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒.

𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐗

James Potter had begun acting stranger than usual towards Lani, winking and blushing slightly when she was near. He had also upped the taunting gag and pranks, which was his way of expressing his 'feelings' towards her.

James Barnes, aka Bucky, had been acting even more out of sorts towards his best friend. He had been extremely distant, and made only small talk when forced to talk to Lani in classes. Lani had over thought every possibility as to why. She didn't realise her taunts down by 'our spot' had impacted him so much, and kept wanting to apologise but didn't know what to apologise for. She wondered if they had jumped into their friendship too quickly, or if he had gotten bored of her. These thoughts lingered in her mind all week, and she desperately needed a form of escapism from them, and like an angel, it came to her.

"Games night, Saturday night, who's coming?" Sirius and James announced in unison as they sat down for dinner on Thursday. The group looked up at them in absolute confusion.

"Games night...like Wizard Chess? I'll pass." Marlene replied, making the two boys' lips turn.

"No! Fun games like...like....seven minutes in heaven, and spin the bottle! C'mon Moony and Wormtail surely you're in?" James said. Peter and Remus nodded their heads in agreement.

"That's more like it, I'm in." Marlene responded, liking the idea of a thrilling and risky game more than Wizard Chess, though that could be extremely risky too.

"I'll be there, I was just wondering if I could invite a friend?" Remus asked, beginning to blush.

"Your loverboy?" Sirius taunted, making Remus blush harder and the group laughed.

"He's not my loverboy, but I would like to bring him, even though he's Ravenclaw." Remus asked, keeping his head down, unable to look at his friends out of embarrassment.

"Yes Moony bring your love- boy." James said, chuckling. "The rest of you in?" He said, looking around to the rest of the group. They nodded, mostly out of guilt if they said no to their two excited friends.

"Sorted. We will meet in our boy's dorm room at 8pm then." Sirius added.

And that was it. Lani's saving grace. She didn't think it would come in this form, but any way to relax her mind and stop overthinking everything was good for her.

Saturday morning came, and Lani woke up in the same mood she did every morning. Upset with the universe for letting the sun rise again and that a new day must unfold. She rubbed her cloudy eyes and rolled over to face Marlene, who was intinced in reading a book. She was never much of a reader, but on calm Saturday mornings it helped ease her mind. Lani smiled to herself, absorbing the calm atmospheric essence of the morning.

An hour passed, they had gone down for breakfast and made their way back up to the dorms to get themselves ready for the day. Lani had made her way down to McGonagall's office for some feedback on her Transfiguration paper, when McGonagall began to go on an alternative tangent.

"Potter came to me the other day, telling me about your little late night chat." McGonagall began, a small smile playing on her lips. Lani blushed profusely and diverted her eyes away from the Professor.

"Minnie, I have no idea what you are talking about." Lani replied flustered, watching her Professor smile at both her inability to lie and her commonly given nickname.

"Alannah there is nothing to be ashamed of, Potter seems to really admire you." McGonagall replied, making Lani's heart rate rise and her face heat.

"Well, that's awfully flattering but really, it was just a simple chat....why do you bring this up Minnie?" Lani answered, fumbling on her words and unable to make eye contact with the woman in front of her.