Corrupted Souls | remus lupin

party planning

Spring took its time to make an appearance, but soon enough flower buds began to open and sunshine peeked around clouds above. Students started to mill about the grounds once more, throwing quaffles and reading under trees and dipping toes in the (still freezing) lake when they deemed the air warm enough.

Neoma was spending more time outside than she ever had before, for it was now one more place she could go to escape the disappointed comments from Narcissa or jeers from Ernest, Lucius, and most depressingly - Severus Snape. 

The day Severus Snape deemed himself better than Neoma Nott was a dark day indeed. Her reputation - in the eyes of the Slytherin house - was damaged for good, and there was no turning back. A pureblood wannabe with a hard-on for the dark arts was officially more popular than her. He even took her place at the Slytherin table.

Luckily for Neoma, she was able to find friends in better places. As her house grew bored of publicly humiliating her, The Marauders (and company) started to involve her in more things. She would act as keeper for the boys every week or so, and she'd almost always study with Lily and Remus in the library. Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice would drag Neoma around shops in Hogsmeade while Lily cozied up to James in Three Broomsticks, and Neoma spent countless long nights with Remus in either the library or the Gryffindor common room working on their potions projects.

It was particularly sunny outside as Neoma walked toward the pitch to meet Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter. Instead of seeing the boys whizzing through the air, however, she was surprised to see that the other girls had joined them, along with Amos Diggory, Alder and Glinda Korbin, and Viraj Patil. 

"Neems!" Sirius grinned, beckoning for her to walk toward them faster. Her brows drew together as she padded up to stand next to Remus, who smiled happily down at her. 

"Good morning, Neoma."

"Morning, Remus ..." she glanced around at the group, who were all talking over each other excitedly. "What's going on?"

"It's tradition for the seventh years to have a big party at around this time. We're planning it now."

"...Every house?" Neoma asked, never having heard of this tradition before. 

"Not Slytherin, I'm afraid," Sirius grinned cheekily. "But we'll make an exception for ya."

"How does Slytherin not know about this?"

"'Cause no one wants them there. Duh."

"But they talk to other houses ... surely someone's told them about it."

"Maybe some of 'em know, but what can they do about it? They know their house is shite."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Nott. Go Slytherin!" Sirius sarcastically pumped his fist in the air. Neoma rolled her eyes and nudged Remus in the side when she heard him laugh. 

"So everyone here that doesn't play quidditch will meet up during the game next Saturday," James instructed, wrapping an arm around Lily's shoulders. "And set up in that big room that used to be Binns' classroom our second year."

"Where's that again? Third floor?" Glinda asked, tilting her head to the side inquisitively. 

"Nah, fifth," her brother responded.

"Fourth, actually," Viraj interjected. 

"Yeah fourth floor - west side. Right next to the painting of the old lady holding a pineapple."

"I forgot about that painting," Marlene grinned, glancing toward Dorcas. "D'you remember how she always used to yell at us for being late?"

"Us? You were the one that was always late. I was just stupid enough to wait for you to get ready."