evans²| r.lupin

Chapter Twenty-One

Each day seemed to pass by before Cassiane could comprehend it. She was constantly occupied with her studies, as for their last year at Hogwarts, the students had to excel, in order to succeed in the future.

Along with Remus and Lily they studied together each afternoon, without fail, as they shared every class and they all were very sensible and focused. Some of the others would occasionally join them, although they preferred to borrow some notes. Only James tried to keep up with them and soon they figured that he didn't pay any attention to Lily.

"He didn't even wave at her." Marlene informed Cassiane. "I'm starting to believe he's over her."

The brunette crossed her arms on her chest. "There has to be an explanation! James has been in love with her forever!"

"It's about damn time he moves on, Cassie. Don't get me wrong, I love Lily, but I don't take pleasure in watching poor James running after her. It's very pleasant that he's finally working  hard on his studies and on Quidditch."

"I'll give you that... Where are those two anyways?"

"Dumbledore's office." Sirius joined them.

"How long have you been eavesdropping?" Marlene questioned, while glaring at him.

"For about ten minutes?"

"Brilliant. What could Dumbledore possibly have to say to both of them?"

"Perhaps he's begging them to get together." Remus pointed out, as he and Petter arrived at the Common Room. They had visited the Library to pick up a few useful books.

"Did you know about their meeting with Dumbledore?" Cassiane asked.

"Sort of..."

They were interrupted as James and Lily approached them, each one holding an identical file. From the moment Cassiane laid eyes on them, she could tell that something was wrong. Lily was looking at him with as he was about to explode and James hadn't uttered a single word.

"Hey Prongs! Did Dumbledore finally agreed to expel you?" Sirius asked playfully.

Lily glanced at him with watery eyes. "Give him a moment Sirius."

"What happened Lily?" Cassiane demanded.

James handed her a different file, one signed with bright red ink, from the Ministry of Magic. She hesitantly opened it and read it within seconds.
"Oh James... I'm so sorry."

Peter took the paper from her hands and bit his lip. "My condolences."

Remus didn't need to read the document to make out what was going on. Mr and Mrs Potter had probably died from dragonpox, a terrible illness that had infected them both a few days ago. However Sirius hadn't caught up with them.

"Can someone please give me the godamn letter?"

Cassiane gave it back with trembling hands. She could feel his heart breaking as he collapsed on the couch next to James. Both men were on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry... What can we do?"

"There's... There's been a mistake." Sirius whispered. "They were fine a month ago..." He looked hopefully at James who gave him a sad smile.

"Dragon pox is often deadly for people as old as them. I just don't-" The rest of his words were cut off as he allowed himself to cry.

Lily wiped her own tears and slowly left the room. Cassiane followed her immediately, as she couldn't figure how she would be of any use to her grieving friends.

"Lils?"

"Dumbledore wanted to make us Head Boy and Head Girl when the letter arrived." The redhead mumbled. "I told him that he wasn't worthy of that title. I said that, I'd much rather have Remus work with me and that he should stick to Quidditch."

"But why would you do that?"

"Because I am an idiot and...and because I got him all wrong, from the beginning!" Lily shouted. "I mean, he bullied Severus and he's not perfect, but the past two years, he changed dramatically."

Cassiane smiled. "When did you realise that you don't hate him?"

"When he took Sirius in. You didn't know Black when we were younger. He had tons of bruises and he would lose his words, or breakdown without an obvious reason. After spending a year with the Potters he became a completely different person. James healed him, in every way."

Cassiane rubbed her back. "What do you think Lils? Shouldn't we go back there?"

Lily nodded and took a deep breath."Yeah, we should."

Remus greeted them at the entrance of the room. "Marlene just returned and she's trying to calm things down, a bit."

"Alright... Has she made any progress?"

"A little bit. She's explaining what happened during training, to James and Sirius."

Their quiet voices caught James attention and he turned his head to face them. His eyes pierced Lily and she walked to him.

"James, Sirius, I'm sorry for your loss. I was lucky to meet your parents." In addition, she hesitantly hugged Sirius and then James. Lily felt him sobbing like a child and immediately pulled him closer.

"I should've sent them something, a letter." He whispered. "At least I could've let them know how much I love them."

"Trust me, they knew. Every single one of us knew and so did your parents, okay?"

James let go of their hug and looked Lily in the eyes. "You don't have to do all of this because they died."

She furrowed her brows. "I'm not..."

"Right... Well, thanks for your the hug, but I'd rather you didn't lie to me, Evans." He growled.

"I don't think she's lying-" Cassiane argued.

"Will you stop talking?" James shouted at her. Remus glared at him, genuinely confused by that reaction.

"I only wanted to help." Lily informed him, before returning to her bedroom.

James watched in silence as she left, realising that he had ruined one unique opportunity, to win over the girl he loved.

A/N; Heyyy!
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Athanasia ❤️