𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙦𝙪𝙖 ➪ 𝗆𝖺𝗋𝖺𝗎𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑆𝐼𝑋𝑇𝑌 𝐸𝐼𝐺𝐻𝑇

➪ MARTINIQUE ➪

"THEN, SHE FELL."

"And it turned out to be the most anti-climactic ending ever," Marlene laughed from her place cross-legged in front of the empty fireplace. "How so cliche, falling in love with someone by the end of a book. Much more interesting to despise each other more and more as the tale goes on, don't you think? Remus?"

"I mean," he closed the book, running a scarred hand through his messy hair, and Loki pulled her hands away from the locks, then returned them once his hand left, "falling in love is typically a satisfactory ending because it's what people crave. They want to be able to find their 'other half' as many put it, and the entire idea of romance is to glorify such a thing and make it sound more heavenly and divine than it is. Most books tend to skip over all the awkwardness, so it appeals to the reader. But, to answer your question, I guess having two people become more hateful of each other does seem rather interesting to read."

"You two, honestly," Lily sighed, rolling her eyes at the pair's conversation. "Loki, this happens every time they decide to read the same book. They end up getting all nerdy once they finish and have long conversations about it. It's worse when they hyper fixate on one particular scene, too."

"It's kind of cute, though, I think," Loki responded, smiling down at the boy resting his head on her lap. "And it's entertaining."

"I knew you'd be on my side," Remus smiled. Loki returned the gesture and leant down to kiss his lips. "Besides, Lily," Remus turned his head to the side to gaze at the red-haired girl on one of the chairs, "it's good conversation, and the books themselves are fun to read, too."

"Oh, Merlin, don't tell me you and Marlene were reading together again, Moony," Sirius groaned. He appeared from behind the sofa Loki and Remus resided on, sitting on the arm beside the Hufflepuff girl, staring down at the boy. "Careful when it happens, Princess, because they can go on for hours, and I'm not exaggerating."

"Last time they did this," James appeared on the other end of the sofa, his attention on Loki, "they were having a full-blown debate about the pros and cons of some girl ending up with some silly bugger named Jonathan other than another guy. We got so sick of it we shoved out of here into the corridors."

"The other students hated it, too, and sent them back in," Lily added, tsking in disdain.

"It was a valid debate, alright?" Marlene huffed, glaring at the trio. "Amelia had so much to gain when she went with Prince Jonathan material-wise, but intellectually, emotionally and spiritually, Michael was the clear choice, and he was also a part of some fancy family, so pretty close to Jonathan."

"Not really," Remus offhanded. He shut his eyes, relaxing in Loki's gentle hands as she began to plait the short strands. "Anyway, seeing as everyone's here, I think our meeting has been adjourned, Marlene."

"Indeed," Marlene hummed, glaring at the other Gryffindor boys on the sofa.

"Where's Peter?" Loki queried, glancing up at Sirius.

"He was going to meet Nicolas at the kitchens for something," Sirius replied, smiling softly at the girl. "Snack collection before a relatively short study sesh, I'd assume."

"Ah," Loki nodded.

"You guys aren't having a book club!" James frowned at Marlene and Remus. "We can barely stand when you two start going on about them once a month, why have you now arranged it to be weekly?"

"Because, Padfoot," Remus peeked up at him with a single eye, keeping the other closed, "some of us have interesting hobbies and interests."

"I have interesting hobbies and interests," James replied, looking more offended than Loki thought he would.

"I don't count, James," Lily spoke up. "And neither does Quidditch."

"I-" James cut himself off. "Bugger off." The group arose in snickers.

"As entertaining as this is," Marlene spoke, standing up from the ground, "I've got a reservation in the library to do some studying, and Lily, you're coming."

"Of course," Lily smiled at the girl. "We'll see you later. And, Loki, I'm going to murder you if you join their 'book club'." She threatened, earning a laugh from the dark-haired Hufflepuff.

"The debate's are better to watch than to participate," Loki retorted. "See you!"

Marlene and Lily waved as they exited through the portrait hole. Loki turned her attention to Sirius, watching as he stood from the sofa, snatching the book from Remus's grip, turning it to read the blurb. James joined him, reading over his shoulder. Remus sighed from Loki's lap. The girl smiled, her thumb tracing a scar on the edge of his hairline.

"This one seems even more boring than the one you were reading before," Sirius grimaced, letting the book fall the short distance on to the coffee table.

"You'll have to bring that up with Marlene," Remus spoke, "she's been picking the books lately."

"No wonder," James snorted. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Don't you two have your Care of Magical Creature's exam tomorrow? I thought you two of all people would be studying the hardest."

"We finished," Loki replied. "We were doing our last session of revision and study this morning after breakfast. We stopped just after lunch."

"It was the most intense studying I've ever done," Remus let out a huff. He opened his eyes, turning them towards his best friends.

"Loki takes study more seriously than anyone," James frowned as is it was common knowledge, "didn't you know?" Both Sirius and Remus furrowed their eyebrow's at James, confused as to how he knew such knowledge. "Loki organised a little study group with me, Peter, Max and Lucy one time and I'm pretty sure I learnt more material in those seven hours than I have all year." Loki bit back a grin, which James noticed. "I appreciate it, but if I have to do that again, I'm going to cry."

"Sorry, James," Loki averted her gaze. "You passed your test, though, with flying colours." She shrugged, glancing up at the boy.

"Yeah, I guess," he hummed. "Anyway, Sirius and I were going to the quidditch pitch, do you want to join?"

"We're fine here, Prongs," Remus replied, smiling softly. "We'll see you later."

"Don't you two get up to too much fun," Sirius winked, slinging his arm over James's shoulder. Loki blushed at his words. "Later, you two." He grinned, clearly teasing them.

➪ AUTHOR'S NOTE ➪

when I say we aren't far from the end, I mean it. like, less than ten chapters, which considering the length of this book already, really isn't a lot. don't worry, because loki and the others will come back. i already have the two thousand word epilogue written, too XD.

anyway, I'll let you go. drink some water, alright? see you next time. bye! :)