Too Honest ~ James Potter

Chapter 38

*7th Year*

Mariya had thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the day; Oliver had moved on from his sulky state to help Lily with the tasks in Mariya's section of the course and she had loved seeing Soraya and Mattai run between the points with all the enthusiasm people their age should show, despite their differences and despite the expectations and beliefs of Mattai's parents. Mariya couldn't help but see some of Regulus and herself in them, a budding friendship that would no doubt have its difficulties but that would almost certainly stand the tests of time and become stronger thanks to its struggles.

At dinner, Mariya and James had arranged with McGonagall that the house tables would be replaced by the sort of smaller tables they had used for the ball. This allowed people to sit with whoever they wanted and meant that a lot of people were surrounded by a combination of their normal friends and their new acquaintances. Mariya fell into a seat next to Lily and smiled as Mattai held out a seat for Soraya to sit next to him. Oliver disappeared back into the crowd to find people from his own house and the other spots at their table were filled by Severus Snape and Jasper Potter. The two were talking animatedly when they had sat down and Lily observed the two with an amused look as they didn't break their discussion to greet the others.

"Well this is pleasantly unexpected." She muttered to Mariya.

"I heard about it from Jasper at lunch. We thought he was joking for a minute but I am glad that they have ignored the prejudices to sit together. It was what the Marauders and I were hoping for when we planned this."

Mariya realised what she had said only seconds after it came out of her mouth, it was however too late for her to do anything as Lily's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly. Mariya had been just about to place a hand over the other girls mouth to stop her saying anything, when Lily smiled at her and gave a gentle nod; clearly she didn't plan on letting anyone else know the secret she had just discovered. Mariya pulled a napkin towards her and quickly scrawled 'I'll explain later.' across it before pushing it towards Lily, who simply glanced over it before tucking it into a pocket of her robes and going back to her food.

"So, what are you talking about?" Mariya asked the boys as she turned back to face them, and they broke their conversation to face her.

"Potions." Jasper answered shortly before stuffing a piece of roast beef into his mouth in the sort of inelegant fashion reminiscent of James.

"Typical," Lily rolled her eyes as she looked at them. "Severus never seems to talk about anything else."

The aforementioned boy smiled at Lily in a way Mariya had never seen him direct towards anyone else before, his eyes were soft despite the slightly sharp comment and his reply was kind, "We were just discussing how Slughorn wants us to brew Amortentia again at some point which is strange considering it isn't even part of the NEWT course."

Mariya snorted derisively, "He probably thinks himself quite the matchmaker what with students smelling each other and thinking that they are in love. He won't miss an opportunity to claim credit for what happens afterward."

Jasper smirked slyly, "What about you and James though, Professor McGonagall was right about the two of you."

Mariya could feel her cheeks burning pink at the curious gazes she received from both Lily and Severus, "Shut up Jasper."

"No no no," Lily interjected, waving her hands in the air to stop her, "What about you and Potter?"

Mariya sighed and cast Jasper a grumpy look which he promptly ignored, "We're going on a date." She mumbled and repeated herself louder when both students said that they couldn't hear her.