Harry jumped down the last of the stairs on the staircase of number twelve Grimmauld Place, remembering too late the portrait of Sirius's mother hidden behind the curtains there. He froze for a breathless moment, and released a quiet sigh of relief when she didn't wake and freak out again.
He quickly moved to the kitchen to join the others for a late supper. The Order had been in a meeting all afternoon, lasting long past their usual supper time. Still, with the Christmas holidays, many of them had stayed for one of Molly's warm suppers.
"Oh excellent, Harry! I need you to prove to Tonks that I'm not making things up." Ron said when he spot
Looking back, Rose had to admit that school became a blur as the spring term went by. Classes were attended and books were studied, and finally their end of the year exams were taken as well.
But despite the blur, Rose could never remember being happier. Though school itself didn't seem to lodge in her memory, everything else did. Her memories with her friends were clear bubbles in the madness of everything else. And her time with Sirius always seemed to be eager to be recalled.
And as their final day of exams was completed, the group went to Hogsmeade to celebrate with a butterbeer. Or in the case of Cassie, James and Peter, a little too m
Sirius didn't even bother to get himself any food. He was too busy watching the entrance to the Great Hall to even bother eating anything.
"Sirius, you have to eat." James coaxed.
"No."
"You're being an idiot." Cassie said, dishing him out some of everything on the table. She had joined the boys and Lily over at the Gryffindor table today.
"I'm not hungry."
"She'll be here soon, she just wanted to drop off that bag of hers." Remus pointed out.
"I know. And I'll wait. Thanks anyway." Sirius said, trying to be polite despite the fact that he was barely paying attention.
Earlier that day, Cassie had passed on Rose's misgivings to him. Abo
The next day at lunch, everyone was talking about the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend visit. Now that the weather was really starting to get warm, everyone was looking forward to getting out of the castle and off the grounds. Sirius and the boys included.
Somehow, being able to wander the village freely was even better than having to sneak around, though both had their merits.
Remus told them that he'd invited Cassie along and they all agreed that it would be even more fun with her along. Sirius tried to casually ask about Rose only to get a knowing smile and an assurance that she'd be joining them as well.
Sirius had just polished off his turk
Rose stared at the letter for a whole five minutes before setting it down with trembling fingers. She then stared at it some more, just sitting there so innocently on her nightstand. As if it hadn't just turned her whole world upside down.
She'd never felt so conflicted in her life. Only a few months ago, her biggest inner conflict had involved fancying a boy who was chasing her best friend. Somehow, fancying a boy who actually liked her back seemed even worse.
How was she supposed to act? Not even her wild imagination could decide. One second she was picturing herself walking up to him in the halls and confessing her own feelings. Then it
Rose hurried up the tower steps, practically throwing herself out of the topmost window when she reached it. She almost slipped and forced herself to slow down, and soon sank huffing and puffing to the rooftop beside Remus.
"Sorry I'm late. I was doing Ancient Runes homework and forgot."
Remus chuckled. "Relax Rose. You've been later than this." He pointed out looking at his watch. "You're only 40 minutes late this time."
She blushed a cherry red and he laughed again. "Sorry "
"Oh stop, you're fine. I've learned to come prepared." He admitted, holding up the book he'd been reading. "This is actually a great place
Cassie floated down the hall in a dream on the way to breakfast, certain that the night before had been a product of her imagination. She swept into the hall and caught the eye of Rose in her usual seat at the Ravenclaw table who grinned as Cassie sat down.
"I'm guessing things went well?"
"Understatement." Cassie whispered, piling food onto her plate only to push it around as she stared off into space.
"Uh oh. I got a one word answer." Rose said as Lily came over and took her seat. She'd somehow replaced Belinda in the space of a few days, but none of them were complaining. Belinda wasn't either, she had her new Slytherin gi
Remus sat on the stone floor of the Usual Spot. It was a bit cooler now that the sun had gone down, but he was glad it was warm enough to visit the real place. A fake roof in the Room of Requirement simply didn't hold the same feeling the real North Tower did.
He was so glad spring had come. When everything had been a mess with his friends, he'd been grateful for the excuse of warm weather to be outside. Now that things were all good again, he could really enjoy the season though. The cloud hanging over him was gone, and the whole world just felt so much brighter.
Now all he needed was for Rose to come. She was late. Again. It didn't surpri
Rose stopped short in the hallway and stared. It was late after her talk with Remus, and all she wanted to do was go to bed, but Cassie stood beside the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room.
The desire to flee was strongest, but Rose forced herself to stay still as Cassie pushed away from the wall and moved towards her.
"Hi." The Ravenclaw said softly.
"Hi." Rose replied. "Did you need something?"
Cassie sighed. "Do you think we could talk?"
"Go ahead." Rose said. She locked all of her emotions away, not wanting to reveal a thing. At one time, she wouldn't have cared, but now? She wasn't so sure she wanted Cassie knowing how she f
Sirius looked up when Remus entered the dormitory, and back down at his homework. He'd spread his books across his bed as he worked on the History of Magic essay due the next day. And he was in no mood for distractions from anyone, let alone the werewolf.
He ignored it when Remus stood beside the bed, not acknowledging his presence at all. He heard a frustrated sigh, and still didn't look up.
"You know, it's hard to apologize if you won't look at me."
Sirius finally did look up, eyebrows together in a frown. "Oh really? An apology?"
Remus rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yeah."
"I don't want to hear it-"
"Well you're going to have to." Remu