Setbacks and Inspirations
Chapter Nine - Awkward Silences
All three girls were quite excited after their words with the mysterious Remus Lupin. Though none would admit it, all three were curious about the boy. In all the years they had been together at Hogwarts, none of them knew much about him. All they did know was that he was one of the three most infamous boys at school.
It was already half past noon and Lily, Riley and Charlie were all anxiously waiting in the Great Hall.
"Maybe we were supposed to meet him at the lake?" said Lily.
"Maybe," replied Charlie.
"Well, if he were a proper gentleman he'd have come to fetch us," said an annoyed Riley.
"Fetch us? He isn't a dog Riley."
"And we aren't objects," added Lily with a smile.
"Whatever. Feminists," she mumbled. "Let's go to the lake then."
The three girls made their way to the doors of the Great Hall. It was quite crowded by then as they made it to their exit slowly but surely. As she approached the door, Charlie reached for its handle. It turned before she could grasp it, and the door opened to reveal four disheveled, chuckling young men.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
A grinning James Potter stood before them, arms crossed and blocking the entrance.
"It seems we have three deserters. What is it girls? Changed your minds about our plans already?"
Sirius looked mock insulted.
Charlie, not realizing that he was only kidding, responded, "Uh, no, no of course we didn't! We were going to go look for you."
Remus smiled at her genuine worry.
"We decided to come fetch you guys. After all, we like to think of ourselves as proper gentlemen."
The girls laughed.
Again, Sirius put on a look.
"No need for the harshness, ladies. We're not perfect but we do try to-"
"Oh, it wasn't that we were questioning your manner. Its just, well, an inside joke I guess you could call it," explained Lily.
"Yes, of course. Well, why don't we make our way to the lake then? We seem to be angering quite a few people," said James.
Indeed they were. They were still blocking the Great Hall's entrance.
They headed toward their destination in silence.
Lord, this is awkward, thought Lily.
They walked (and rolled) side-by-side. Someone started to whistle a tune (perhaps to ease the uncomfortable silence.
Finding it difficult to keep up after a while, Lily grew annoyed. It seemed her friends weren't noticing her struggle. Sirius, on her left, raised a hand to fix a stray hair. As his arm came back down to rest at his side once again, it brushed Lily's shoulder. Both looked at one another at the unsuspected contact, and smiled.
"Sorry Evans. My fault."
"It's okay."
And once again, it was back to the uncomfortable silence. Finally, the entrance to the school grounds came into view and they all silently thanked Merlin.
Peter and James lead in descending the stairs, and as Lily approached, their changing unpleasantly surprised them.
"Oi, what the hell?" yelled Peter, barely catching himself in time.
"Sorry Peter! The stairs change when I get near. I guess I should have mentioned that," apologized Lily.
"That might have been a good idea," said James, rubbing his behind. He hadn't caught himself in time.
Sirius laughed. "That Dumbledore is brilliant. Really thinks of everything."
With that, he began to push Lily down the slope, and toward the lake. They stopped at a tree by the water's edge.
"Well, here we are Lily, Charlie and Riley, welcome to our tree."
"Uh, thank you Remus," replied Charlie.
"Thank you," said Lily.
Lily looked over to Riley. She hadn't said anything in awhile, but now she had actually been addressed. She was presently glaring at Peter, who was glaring at Charlie, who was shifting nervously from foot to foot. Lily gave Riley a nudge.
"What?"
Riley looked up to see Remus's expectant expression.
"Nice…tree?" said an oblivious Riley.
He smiled, "thanks"
Lily rolled her eyes as Riley went back to glaring at Peter, who was still glaring at the nervous Charlie.
"So," began Lily as they all seated themselves, "what did you want to talk to us about? Why the sudden invitation after five years?"
Lily knew the answer to the question.
"Well," said James, "we just thought it would be nice to catch up. Like you said, we haven't really talked all that much in the past."
Give me a break, thought Lily.
"So this has nothing to do with my present condition?"
"No, no of course not. Unless you wanted to tell us about it."
"But Potter, hasn't Black told you anything?"
Remus decided to speak up.
"Well, yes, he did. But…the story you told him seems to be a little…"
"A little what?" snapped Riley.
"Unbelievable, unlikely, unrealistic..."
"They get it Sirius. We're just curious about how you came to be…"
"Crippled?" said Lily.
"Well, yes."
Riley responded for her.
"She told you. It was a car accident. Her wounds were too severe to heal. Simple as that."
Peter let out an annoyed sound and James gave him a look.
"Well," continued Remus, "we thought it might have been Voldemort at first, but he wouldn't have left you alive if he'd have come across you or any other muggleborn."
"Exactly," agreed Lily.
"But then again," added Sirius, "there isn't any mortal wound that can't be healed by magic. We've done our research.
"So you think we're lying?" tested Riley.
"Yes," replied Peter.
Before anyone knew what had happened, Riley had pounced. Now on top of Peter, pinning him down with a wand to his face, it was obvious what she had in mind. The three remaining boys watched on, opened mouthed and somewhat amused. Charlie and Lily weren't as shocked. Riley was always first to lose her temper.
"Why don't you and your friends mind your own damn business? Lily has enough on her mind as it is. She doesn't need four nosey gits breathing down her neck."
Peter smiled creepily and let out an even creepier laugh.
"I know what happened," whispered Peter, "It was the claudus curse wasn't it?"
Riley's brow wrinkled in confusion as Peter's smile grew.
"I know the cure, Riley Kit."
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