To James's dismay, Carina was separated from them the following period. She went off to Herbology with Lily while James, Remus, and Sirius were scheduled for a free period. No longer needing the subject for their qualifications for Auror training, they'd decided to drop it. But Lily, with her interest in healing, and Carina with her penchant for potions, never thought twice about continuing with it.
James watched as Lily waited for Carina so they could head out together. So far, she seemed oblivious of her friend's earlier incident. Yet he couldn't help but notice the tired step in Carina's stride, his brows furrowing in concern.
"What happened?" Remus asked him immediately, catching his friend watching the departing girls from outside the classroom.
'Not here," he mumbled. "Let's go to the shack."
"What?" Sirius asked in surprise as he approached them. They rarely went to the Shrieking Shack outside the full moons. It wasn't somewhere Remus liked to be, and they only went when they needed the utmost privacy.
"Remus, tell Peter to meet us?" James asked, unfazed.
"Sure," Remus nodded, not entirely understanding, but sensing the urgency.
That's where they were, nearly an hour later, after James filled them in on the morning's events. The boys were all lost in their own grim pondering. Sirius appeared sympathetic, as he himself understood what it was like to not have dependable family. He himself started living with the Potters not more than a year ago. Remus and Peter both seemed guilt-ridden, feeling terrible about not having known earlier since they'd been friends with Carina the longest out of the four of them.
"What do we do?" Peter asked uncertainly.
"Well she certainly doesn't want us treating her differently," James laughed dryly. "She went through quite the lengths to ensure that."
"But she'd never tell us if something was wrong, anyway," Sirius shook his head wryly.
"Exactly. We just have to keep a closer eye, make more of an effort," James confirmed.
"Well it's almost lunch," Peter reminded them. "We can probably catch her in the Great Hall soon."
"You all go ahead," James said.
"Where are you going?" Sirius demanded.
"To go find Carina. She still looked rather drained, and it's a long walk back to the castle from the greenhouse."
Without waiting for a response, James started on the trek down the mountain, leaving his three friends staring after him with their jaws dropped.
"Do you suppose this is just his guilt, or do you think he's got it bad?" Sirius asked them genuinely.
"For her sake, I almost hope it's guilt," Peter said resolutely.
"Why?" Remus asked in surprise. "Carina would be so good for him."
"No doubt about that," he agreed. "But James has been fawning over Lily for years. If it came down to it in the next few months, who do you think he'd pick?"
Remus and Sirius went silent. As much as they wanted to disagree, they didn't have the confidence to.
̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ・☽ ༓ ☾・ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶̶
Carina went through her last two classes in a bit of a daze, feeling unanchored in the reality she'd finally spoken aloud. To her immense relief, Lily was surprisingly quiet about how James walked her into the classroom. She didn't know if she could handle trying to explain that right now.
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Tides of Fate | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀs ᴇʀᴀ
Fanfiction❛ It's not like Carina would go and do something stupid like falling in love with Prongs, would she?❜ It was a terrible idea to date someone who'd been in love with someone else for years, even if it was fake. But James Potter was desperate. It was...
