/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟕.𝟠.𝟣

"I love you the more in that I believe you had liked me for my own sake and for nothing else." ~ John Keats

~february 1977~

The Marauders were standing at the foot of the stairs to the girls' dormitory as they did nearly every morning. James was bouncing on the balls of his feet, anxious to see Lily. Sirius kept giving him sidelong glances. He knew what had happened between the two, but he also had clear memories of Lily's hatred for his friend. He didn't want James to get hurt.

Marlene was the first down the stairs, closely followed by Mary. She winked at James, then linked her arm through Remus's and pulled him away to talk on their way down to breakfast. Lily followed a few seconds later, and James perked up, but then she strode past the boys without giving them a second look.

James looked after her, then stared at Art, coming down the stairs just after Lily. "What the hell was that?"

Artemis kissed Sirius hello and then gave James a knowing smile. "Give her time, Prongs. You know how she gets."

"But- but last night-"

"I know what happened last night, mate," she said, taking Sirius's hand and leading him, James, and Peter toward the portrait hole. "And believe me, she's not upset about it. She just gets weird about this stuff, give her a minute, alright?"

James sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, alright."

When they got through the portrait hole, Peter sped up. Sirius called after him. "Oi, what're you in a rush for?"

"I've got to talk to Mary about... something..." he said, and disappeared into a crowd of people.

Sirius looked down at Artemis, eyebrows raised. "All of our friends are acting fucking weird."

"That's what happens when friends sleep together," she said, and gave him a pointed look.

When Peter got down to the Great Hall, Mary was talking to Emmeline just outside the doors. He lingered on the fringes of a group of people for a moment, but when Emmeline turned and walked off, he strode over to Mary. "Hey," he said lightly.

She looked up. "Hey."

"Can we talk, Mary? It's been a month, I just want to talk about it."

Mary hesitated. She looked like she was fighting an internal war inside her brain. "Yeah, alright. Come on, let's go over here."

He trailed after her to an empty side hallway. "Look, I kind of got the message, alright? Maybe on New Years we made a mistake-"

"No, no, Peter," said Mary, not meeting his eyes. "It was... it was nice. It's just that- I've been thinking about this a lot. And I don't feel that way about you. I don't feel that way about anyone. I think... I think some people just aren't meant for that."