Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

25 November, 1977 - Evans

"Oi! Selwyn!" James Potter's voice rang out through the library and Lavinia sighed, looking up from her notes with a properly annoyed expression on her face even as Madam Pince shushed the boy. "Sorry," Potter muttered to the librarian, grimacing slightly as he approached Lavinia's table.

Lavinia frowned at him, glancing momentarily at Eloise and Regulus, both of whom were sitting next to her and had looked up at the sound of Potter's voice. Regulus was now frowning and watching Potter's approach. Eloise simply rolled her eyes.. "Do they ever leave you alone?" she murmured to Lavinia.

Lavinia gave a little snort. "Guess not," she sighed.

Eloise shrugged and turned back to her notes. "One day, you're going to have to really kick their asses."

Lavinia forced a small smile as Potter stopped in front of her table. It was a sunny afternoon for all that the air outside was bitingly cold, something they'd all realized a bit too late on their way to the greenhouses for Herbology earlier.

"What do you want?" Lavinia asked tersely, playing subconsciously with the feather of her quill.

He frowned at her. "What, no hello?" he returned, feigning offense.

"No," she replied simply. "What do you want, Potter."

"I'm on hall patrol tonight," he started, then looked over at Regulus, who was still watching him. "Can I help you, Black?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No," Regulus said innocently.

"Then why are you staring?" Potter countered.

Regulus shrugged and glanced momentarily at Lavinia. "Can't hurt to keep an eye on you."

"It's my ravishing good looks isn't it?" Potter asked, running his hand through his hair.

Regulus gave a snort and rolled his eyes. He opened his mouth, no doubt to contradict Potter, but Lavinia cut him off. "I know you're on hall patrol tonight, Potter. The schedule's been posted for weeks."

Potter gave one last frown at Regulus, eyes narrowed, before turning back to Lavinia. "Well I forgot to check it," he admitted.

"Sounds like that's your problem," she shrugged, turning back to her work, wondering what in the hell he was doing here. Surely he knew that just because they'd made their peace - or something like it anyway - in the past month, didn't mean he could strike up a casual conversation with her in the middle of the day.

"Gracious, as ever, Selwyn," Potter muttered. "I'm busy tonight," he continued. "I need someone to cover for me."

Lavinia looked back up from her papers, frowning. "Go ask Evans. Isn't she your girlfriend these days?"

Potter beamed, actually seeming to glow with pride. Lavinia ignored the slight stab in her heart at that expression, forcing herself not to think just how much she would give to have someone react to the mere mention of her like it was their life's greatest accomplishment. Though, she supposed, in Potter's case, that wasn't much of a stretch.

"Yes," he asserted. "But she's already on duty."

"Don't sound so hyped, Potter. Dating a mudblood is hardly an accomplishment. And it took you 6 years to get her to say yes," Lavinia pointed out with a nasty smirk, the words rising from some cold angry part of her that didn't care if they were awful. Some halfways decent part of her wanted to curl up and cease to exist as soon as they were said, especially since she knew it was hardly out of character. Indeed, Eloise gave a little laugh, though she kept her head bent over her notes.