The Years We Were Alive: Year 1

The Emotional Problems of Being Friends With a Girl

March 7, 1972

"Liz, that's our bathroom too, you can't just stay in there," James pounded his fist on the door. They had all left the Great Hall together. After convincing Peter to at least pretend like he was sorry. He was starting to show the group that he was a smarmy little prick, but he still had some endearing qualities.

"Lizzie," Sirius leaned against the door and sighed.

"Ugh, I have to pee!" Remus exclaimed. That was likely to get her to come out. It was an appeal to her emotion.

After another ten minutes of talking through the door, James threatened to bust into the bathroom.

"Try just turning the knob first," Sirius suggested. No need to break the door. The knob turned just fine to show an empty bathroom.

"Guys," James started to chuckle, "she's not in there, we've been yelling towards an empty bathroom,"

Everyone but Peter started to laugh. Peter was in a perpetually bad mood that had gotten worse as time went on. Remus got to use the bathroom after feeling a little stupid for not considering that she might not even be in there. Someone just closed the door and didn't remember it.

"Who did it?" James snorted, "who left the door closed?"

"Maybe it was Lizzie, she'd do that. Make us think she was in there so she could go somewhere else," Peter suggested.

"Can't blame her, can you?" James spat at Peter. They were all mad at him. He was fighting with Lizzie, so they were fighting with him.

They had become a family. A close family. They all played the parents sometimes. Lizzie found it nice that she didn't always have to be the mother, that had gotten quite tiring, and she was glad to have the boys there to take care of her as well.

"Where'd she go then?" Sirius asked the room.

"I'll be back," Remus darted out of the room and out into the castle proper. He walked until he got to the witch statue, and he entered the dark tunnel.

"Lizzie!" he called, "I have chocolate I can give you!"

"Go away, I already have chocolate,"

"But I have muggle chocolate! It's better, you know it is,"

"Go away,"

"I'm not going to do that,"

Remus heard Lizzie groan, but he kept going towards her.

"Lumos," he let his wand light up, and he saw that she was closer than he thought, she'd just been quiet. One of the rare moments of Lizzie's soft quietness. She shielded her eyes from the light, "why are you sitting in the dark,"

"I don't know, it's what felt comfortable," she had her cloak drawn tight around her shoulders. The tunnel was cold, always. It was underground. They weren't even entirely sure that it wasn't under the lake.

"Come back with me," he offered her his hand. She was sitting on the floor up against the wall.

"No, I want to stay here if that's alright with you. You can go now,"

"Nope," Remus sat down next to her and pulled the chocolate frog she was opening from her hands, replacing it with a bar of chocolate his father had given to him for Christmas.