Eye of the Serpent | HP MARAUDER ERA [2]

Chapter Twenty-Six

The next couple of weeks were extremely busy. Everyone from fifth to seventh year was flooded with homework, and that included sixth-years. I began needing to stay up much later at night than I normally did in order to complete all of my homework. I was extremely busy with my workload since I was taking all of the more difficult classes (though some people would've gotten offended if I told them that).

Other than homework and classes, I had Quidditch practice in preparation for Gryffindor's first game of the season. I had convinced James to schedule practice on the day of the second Slug Club meeting of the year. The first meeting, however, I had been forced to go to, only to meet Professor Slughorn's new recruits: two fifth-year Hufflepuffs and another Slytherin to replace his beloved Alecto Carrow, who had just graduated.

Being as busy as I was with homework, Quidditch and some of my extracurriculars (which was mostly reading), I had only a few chances to meet up with Regulus. I found it easier to meet him whenever the Marauders had detention because it was during those times that I knew for a fact they didn't have the Marauder's Map with them and couldn't follow me. Luckily, the four boys got detention quite often.

These days, Regulus was nearly always alone. He hung out with a few of his Slytherin friends which included Severus Snape, but he later confided in me about how much he disliked them. For that reason, he wanted to be able to be around me more often without having to sneak around.

We had discussed telling people about our relationship a few times, but every single time we did, I would put it off and tell him we'd tell everyone later on. I was a procrastinator; that much was obvious. If I was to be completely honest, I was absolutely, positively terrified of everyone finding out about me and Regulus. Everything was so good with the Marauders and I was so afraid of how they would react if they found out. I knew I couldn't avoid telling them forever, because they would start getting suspicious if they didn't know where I was running off to some days; but I wanted to put it off for as long as I could. Regulus agreed to hold off telling them for as long as I wanted and I said I wanted to tell them in approximately two and a half months, just before Christmas.

At the beginning of October was the first trip to Hogsmeade of the year. As usual, on the day of the visit to the village, I was the very first person awake in the entirety of Gryffindor Tower.

When I woke up, Lily, Alice and Marlene were all fast asleep; I could tell by the slow, steady breathing coming from the other three beds in our dormitory. Without having changed, I grabbed a book from my nightstand and made my way down the stairs, entering the empty Gryffindor common room. I hopped onto the couch in my pyjamas and laid down on it, opening my book to read.

For a few minutes, I read silently and no one else came down from any other dormitories, but I was unusually fidgety due to excitement and slight boredom. I found myself wishing the boys would wake up soon and decided to go find them in their dormitory to see if they had woken up yet.

I quietly crept up the stairs just as two seventh-year boys climbed down, casting me confused glances while doing so. Reaching the Marauders' dormitory, I pushed the door open as slowly as I could and stuck my head into the room. I tiptoed inside, trying to keep the floor from creaking too much.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all still fast asleep. Peter was snoring once again, Remus's covers had fallen on the floor, James's hair was an absolute mess and Sirius had somehow ended up on the other side of his bed; his feet were on his pillow. The four of them looked quite hilarious. I stared at all of them as if they'd be able to feel my gaze on them and, consequently, wake up...