Their Seventh Year

Only one chapter left.  Are you excited?  I am.  As anyone who has written a long fanfic knows, it is exhausting.  Since I had already finished this one, I can’t complain much, but back when I was posting it the first time, I was soooooo glad to see the end of it.  Just so you’re prepared, all of the loose ends aren’t going to tie up…life is not that simple and tidy.

Chapter 39- Celebration

The Great Hall was silent except for the scratching of quills and the occasional scrape of a chair against the floor as someone shifted in their seat. Such quiet was unusual at Hogwarts and so Minerva McGonagall was enjoying while it lasted. She glanced at her watch- thirty minutes left in the exam period that was the last one for most of the Seventh Years. Looking around at the students, with their heads bent over their parchments, she felt a quiet pride. They were well prepared, as well as any school could make them, for starting their real lives. A few might end up in Azkaban, that was true, but most of them would go on to be productive members of society, a few might even be great. She smiled, she was particularly fond of this group of Seventh Years, especially at times like this when they were well-behaved and quiet and-

The silence of the room was shattered by a whoop, and James Potter slapped down his quill and leapt up, raising his arms in victory as though he had just made a goal in Quidditch. "I am.....totally finished with school!"

Black had clearly been waiting for just such an opening, he jumped up as well and there was a flurry of high-fiving and other patently male congratulatory gestures.

"Black! Potter! Be quiet and sit down this instant or I will-"

"Give us a detention?"

"Take away points?"

"Come on, you wouldn't do that today! It's a time for celebration!"

"Soon we'll be out of your hair forever!"

"And then won't you miss us!"

She leveled a glare at them. "Sit down, and be quiet, until the exam is over."

They did, but it was with much grinning, and she had to admit, she might miss this group.

……………………………..

They were finally done with NEWTS, and finally Lily could relax. She thought she'd done pretty well on her exams, but she was done worrying about it and just wanted to enjoy the last few days of school leading up to graduation.

Every year, on the night after exams finished, Seventh Years from Hogwarts had something of a party at the Three Broomsticks. It was a long-standing tradition- the students would make a big show of pretending to sneak out of school, the teachers would look the other way and pretend not to notice, and Madam Rosmerta would pretend they were all of legal age. It was something Lily had heard about for years, and now she was really quite excited about it. She hadn't actually been to a party in ages, and now that she didn't have exams hanging over her it would be all that much more fun.

They were dressing up a little bit for the party. Not dress robes, but just something a little more interesting than school uniforms. Lily was aware she had been neglecting James lately, she had not exactly been the best girlfriend, and she fully intended to make it up to him.

………………………………

James looked in the mirror. "Wow, I look good."

"Would you like the rest of us to leave you alone with your reflection for awhile Prongs?"

"Nah, I don't want to deny you guys the pleasure of looking at me, when I look this good."

Unfortunately, the only response this got was eye-rolling.

"Padfoot, you're awfully subdued for a man who's about to consuming unlimited quantities of alcohol."

"Just because I'm not fainting over how incredibly dreamy you look does not make me subdued James." He replied dryly, adjusting the cuffs of his robes. "And as far as consuming unlimited quantities of alcohol, don't be surprised if I leave a bit early."

Peter looked disbelieving. "Sirius Black leaving a party early?"

"I'm not so much leaving a party as finding my own." He muttered, almost inaudibly.

"In Slytherin? That girl is-" Peter's voice was just a touch higher than usual. Sirius rounded to face him with surprising speed.

"You know, if I feel I need your commentary, I'll ask."

There was an awkward silence. Sirius was frequently annoyed with Peter, but very rarely did he show any real anger. James stepped in, more to keep the peace than anything.

"Look, Mate, in his own very tactless way Wormtail is just saying that he's trying to look out for you. Maybe she really is great, but she's a Slytherin, and when all is said and done, you don't really know all that much about her."

"The world isn't divided into good people and Slytherins James."

"I never said it's that simple. I'm just saying be careful."

"We should go, the girls will be waiting." Remus broke in quietly.

“Right.” Sirius walked out without another word to them.

…………………………………

“I can’t believe school is over.” Lily said, not for the first time that evening. The Three Broomsticks was full of Hogwarts Seventh Years, all houses, in varying levels of sobriety. Some had obviously had a head start on their drinking.

Glancing around the room, he spotted Sirius chatting amiably enough with Gideon Prewett, and realized he really wasn’t going to enjoy the evening unless he knew that they were okay. He stood, and kissed the top of Lily’s head. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

She looked a little perplexed, but nodded, and he wandered over to where Sirius was sitting, and passed him a butterbeer.

“Thanks.”

“Sure thing.” James pulled a chair over and studied his best friend for a moment. “Are we okay?”

Sirius set down his butterbeer, and then nodded. “Sure Prongs, we’re fine.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

“Is it…I mean, are you serious about this girl?”

Sirius shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe not. But I’m actually willing to take the time to find out, and that’s new in itself.”

“So you really like her?”

“I…she really interests me.”

“That’s all I need to know.”

“Thanks Mate.” Sirius gestured back to Lily. “Now really James, you should know better than to keep a beautiful woman waiting.”

…………………………………….

Lily wasn’t sure what was going on with James and his friends, but it was so rare that they fought that she didn’t mind when he left her for a moment to talk to Sirius. In typical male fashion, they only said a few words, and somehow solved everything. She was watching this, mildly amused and definitely mystified, when a deep voice spoke behind her.

“Excuse me Miss Evans, I couldn’t help but recognize the red hair, I was wondering if you might be able to direct me to my girlfriend.”

She turned, and her mouth fell open at the good-looking young man standing behind her.

“Frank!” She clasped a hand over her mouth. “ didn’t know you’re coming.”

“Nah, I thought I’d surprise her.”

“She’s going to die!”

“Well, not quite die I hope.” He smiled.

At that moment was making her way back from the bar, and Lily waited breathlessly for her reaction, but she didn’t even see him, just collapsed in the chair next to Lily.

“Honestly, you should never let Hufflepuffs drink…

Frank cleared his throat, she still didn’t turn.

“I mean, they really just get out of control…”

He cleared his throat again, gave a loud false cough. She whipped around.

“Excuse me, we were trying to have a conver-“ Her indignant voice dropped to something like a squeak. Then with a scream and accidentally kicking over her chair, she threw her arms around him. Lily thought this was one of the most romantic scenes she had ever seen. She felt a hand on her arm and smiled up at James.

“Come on, let’s go dance and leave them alone.”

…………………………………

"Can't believe this year is almost over." Lily remarked. They were not dancing so much as just sort of swaying while locked together, but James had no complaints and Lily didn't seem to mind either. Besides, compared to many of the increasingly inebriated couples in the pub, they were positively chaste.

"You've said that like eight times tonight." he pointed out.

"I know, but so much has changed this year."

"I'll say. At the beginning of the year you wouldn't even talk to me."

"You must admit, your behavior was appalling."

"And it's better now?"

"No, I'm just willing to overlook it because you're rich." James chuckled as she drew back for a moment. "Do you want to get out of here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"

"Well, everyone who's still here..." She gestured around and noted that a lot of people had cleared out already. "...is just going to get increasingly drunk. So unless you're inclined to start shooting firewhiskey and passing out on the floor, we could find other things to do. I doubt anyone will expect us back tonight anyway."

It wasn't Lily's fault that to James's eighteen-year-old male mind that sounded quite suggestive.

“Oh…okay.”

“Where shall we go?”

“I’ve got an idea. Come on.”

……………………………………

It did occur to Sirius that he could have thought ahead, invited her out, and avoided this whole situation, but where was the fun in that? He was not one to back down from a challenge, even if that challenge involved sneaking into the Slytherin dorm to get a certain young lady. He only hoped she would be in the common room, since it was entirely possible the girls’ dormitories in Slytherin were like those in Gryffindor, designed to keep boys out.

He didn’t have to wait around too long under James’s cloak before two Fifth Years came along, talking loudly about their OWLS, and keeping enough distance to avoid bumping into them, Sirius slipped in behind them.

His first thought was that is was a pretty depressing common room, but he brightened when he saw her half reclining on one of the couches, watching her blond friend and another boy play chess, occasionally pointing out moves. Sirius had to admit he was a little disappointed- it seemed that Slytherins spent their free time much the same as anyone else. He had expected to find them blatantly practicing dark magic or sacrificing cuddly animals or something.

He slipped around behind the couch, and took a deep breath, hoping she wouldn’t scream, but a hand on her shoulder. She jumped, and whipped around suddenly, but when there was no one there understanding flashed in her eyes. She was still for a moment, and then stood and stretched.

“I’m going to get something to eat.”

The blond girl glanced up. “It’s past curfew.”

She smirked as she headed for the door. “Like I care.”

It was almost too easy, Sirius thought, as he followed her out.

“Are you insane?” She hissed.

“You’re not the first one to suggest that.”

“Would you please take that off? I don’t like talking to nothing.” She was glaring fiercely about a foot to his left. He obliged, and she turned her glare to him. “You’re going to get me in trouble.”

Rather than arguing with her, he kissed her. Right there, in the corridor, not caring if everyone in Slytherin happened to come out of their common room. When he released her, she still looked pissed off, but she was working hard at it.

“So why aren’t you getting pass-out drunk with your friends?”

“I was. But since it looked like your evening was going to consist of watching two fairly bad chess players, I really think you should be thanking me. You should say “thank you Sirius, for rescuing me from my boring evening.” That’s what a nice girl would say.”

“Have I ever given you the impression I was a nice girl?”

“I wouldn’t be here if you were.”

……………………………………..

About halfway up the mountain outside Hogsmeade, there was a lovely place to sit that looked over the entire village and had a stunning view of the sky and the surrounding countryside. It was a nice place to sit if you wanted to stargaze. Or if you wanted a private place to take your girlfriend. Lily didn’t need two guesses to guess which purpose James had in mind. Not that she minded that in the least, but subtle he was not. She had to be impressed with his knowledge of the area around Hogwarts, even knowing that that knowledge had been acquired by breaking any number of school rules, and probably a good many Ministry laws once a month.

“Should I tell your future from the stars?” James asked conversationally.

She smiled. “Aren’t you the one who said divination was crap?”

“That’s was the Hogwarts version. I’m talking about the James Potter method of divination.”

“By all means then.”

The threaded his fingers through her hair, and pretended to study the stars for a moment.

“You’re going to be great Lily. You’re going to be a legend. Immortal.”

She looked up at him, and saw he was only half kidding, but that he really believed in her that much. She rose up to kiss him. “You’re very sweet James.”

“Yes, yes I am, aren’t I?”

“Did you have to ruin the moment by complimenting yourself?”

“Sorry. Feel free to resume the moment.”  He went on with his fortune telling.  “I’m going to be Minister of Magic of course.  And you can stay home and cook my dinner, and wear cute little…ow!”  He rubbed his arm where she had just punched him.  “Okay, you can be Minister of Magic.”  He sighed and gave her a little sidelong glance.  “I love you.”

She smiled.  “Well, how could you help it?”

……………………………………….

“Sirius, what are we doing?”

He thought that was rather obvious. “Er…if I have to explain that to you…ow!”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

He wished that was what she’d meant, since snogging was a lot easier to discuss than whatever was going on between the two of them. He had told her not to over think it, but the truth was he had been over thinking it as well. He was out of school, an adult, and more or less free to do as he liked. But she was still in school, still under her father’s thumb as far as he could tell. And even if she wasn’t, she wasn’t going to walk away from her family.

He sighed and pulled away, looking her in the eye, although he made no attempt to withdraw his hands. “What exactly are you asking?”

“Are you just trying to get back at your family?”

“I could ask you the same thing. Are you just trying to give your father a stroke? It’s true that at this point you’ve got more to lose, but that doesn’t mean I’m just playing games with you.”

She looked at him, and for once she wasn’t just smirking, there was no amusement in her eyes. “It would almost be easier if you were.”

“I know.”