𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙦𝙪𝙖 ➪ 𝗆𝖺𝗋𝖺𝗎𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝐹𝐼𝐹𝑇𝑌 𝐸𝐼𝐺𝐻𝑇

➪ TENNE ➪

"IT'S NOT BAD!"

"It's grass! How is it not bad?" Remus stared in appalled disbelief at Loki. She swallowed the Bertie Botts bean, causing Remus to shudder in disgust, and stuck her tongue out at him.

"It's not as bad as rotten eggs, or bogeys. It's not bad like black pepper," Loki retorted. "I mean, grass doesn't even have a taste."

"True," Sirius spoke up, nodding at the girl.

Remus huffed, knowing he would be defeated if he tried to argue any further. He took another bite of his liquorice wand, looking between the pair. Loki stuck her hand into the box of flavoured beans, pulling out one that had a turquoise exterior. She nibbled the end, smiling before shoving the rest of it in her mouth. On the other hand, Sirius was carefully pulling apart a cauldron cake, tossing the pieces up to catch in his mouth. Remus looked around him, finding where half the cake had gone.

"So, what did you two do over the holidays?" Loki queried, looking up from her box and looking from one Gryffindor to the other.

"Hung out, as you saw," Sirius replied, glancing her way with a smirk. "Played a game of... truth or dare, I think was what Lily called it." Loki raised her eyebrow. "It was eventful." Sirius cast a look Remus's way.

Remus averted his gaze, fiddling with an unopened chocolate frog box. "Yeah."

"And then we played some Quidditch. Lily and Marlene painted my nails," Sirius looked down at his hands. "It was pretty nice. Then Lucy told me she wanted to do my hair."

"Sirius never looked so frightened in his life," Remus laughed as Sirius glared. "He told her the only person allowed to touch his hair was himself and you." Remus turned to Loki with a smile. She giggled quietly, covering her mouth. "Then all the girls teased him for it."

"They were laughing because I let them paint my nails but didn't let them touch my hair," Sirius rolled his eyes. "I get very protective over my hair, okay? I grew this out to piss off my parents, and now I'm used to it, and I'm not having it ruined."

"Oh, come on, Sirius," Loki smiled, "Lily and Marlene are excellent when it comes to hair. The date in the Astronomy tower, do you remember? They did my hair better than anyone else has before."

"Still," Sirius sighed. "Anyway, what did you get up to while we were away?"

"Well," Loki's face screwed up as the taste of mouldy cheese spread through her mouth. She swallowed the rest of the bean, hoping the flavour would go away quickly. "I finished some schoolwork, read in the library and completed a puzzle. Got to do some more painting than usual, which was fun."

"So," Sirius hummed, shoving a piece of cake into his mouth, "basically normal Loki stuff."

"I- well, yes, I suppose. Normal me stuff." Loki nodded, looking down as she frowned slightly.

"We missed you a lot," Remus spoke. "And so did the others." He smiled at her when she looked up at him. "Which shouldn't be a surprise seeing as how fond they are of you. There was more than one occasion Peter turned to tell you something only to realise you weren't there. Same with Nicolas."

"Aw," Loki grinned.

➪

"SHE'S SO NICE!"

"Who?" Loki sat down beside Marlene and Lily in the library, keeping her voice low with Madame Pince right around the corner.

"Lily's trying to convince me to enjoy Angela's company." Loki was still confused, not knowing who 'Angela' was. Marlene let out a knowing sigh before explaining further. "She's a seventh year Gryffindor. Her step-father is the Minister for Magic, and she thinks she's above everyone because of that."

"She doesn't!" Lily whined. "Just because you had one bad encounter with her doesn't mean she's an all-around bad person."

"She was dating someone who's family supports You-Know-Who," Marlene shot back, her gaze locked on Lily.

The two bickered some more, and Loki quickly realised she wouldn't be able to speak with them for some time. She pulled her bag onto her lap, pulling out her inkpot, quill and book, then stood from the table, leaving the pair of Gryffindors to argue. She strolled past Madame Pince, who peered at her sceptically, and headed toward the Potion section.

She sighed. The company of books and nothing else always managed to calm her down. It was something she found comfort in. The way they all looked different, the height, the thickness, even the smell. While the holidays were happening she often made her way into the library, getting lost within the rows of books she'd maneuvered through many times. It was something she never got bored of. Loki told herself to focus, however, because she had work to do. She silently promised herself to come back here another day when she'd done all she needed to do, saying she would treat herself to one of the fiction books they had there.

Loki grabbed one of the potion books off the shelf, reading the back to make sure she had the right one. She smiled, making her way back to the table where Marlene and Lily seemed to have stopped arguing. She took back her spot, smiling at the girls when she returned. Lily and Marlene returned the gesture, then turned to the books they'd gotten before Loki turned up.

The three worked quietly. They bathed in the silence of the library and lack of loud males surrounding them. It wasn't often that the three were together without at least one of the Marauders around or Nicolas, too. Loki felt comforted that she, for once, wasn't the only one speaking softly as they did homework, finding herself smiling as Lily's voice came out softer as she told Marlene about the symptoms of ingesting some sort of plant.

"Studying in the library together feels sort of... calming," Marlene spoke once the girls had gathered their things and were leaving the Library. She breathed in through her nose, letting out a deep breath. "I feel like I've just meditated and now all my troubles are far behind me. We should do this again sometime. What do you think, Loki?"

"Yeah," Loki grinned. She loved studying with the girls and was beyond happy to do it again. "Definitely."

"Brilliant!" Lily clapped. "We've got to get going now, though, so we'll see you later, Loki!"

"Later, Loki!" Marlene smiled.

"Bye girls" Loki replied. She waved farewell to the pair as they went down the corridor in the opposite direction to where she needed to go.

➪ AUTHOR'S NOTE ➪

hi, how's it going? I'm sorry for how late this chapter is, but I've been finding it hard to get motivation and inspiration as of late. i hope you've all been doing well, though. 

what do you want to or expect to happen in the next few chapters? I'm just curious because i feel like I'm running out of ideas because i really don't want to let this go :(

I'll let you all go now. See you next time! farewell :)