Priori Incantatem [HARRY POTTER FANFICTION]

Chapter 31: Carpe Diem

Chapter 31: Carpe Diem

The Gryffindors' return to Hogwarts after the disastrous New Year's party was different than any other return James could remember. Before he had always sort of taken Hogwarts for granted, but now after the chaos and confusion in the outside world, it felt like some sort of sanctuary.

As James and the others entered the Great Hall for the Welcome Back feast, the buzz of conversation instantly died as every face in the room turned towards them. After a few seconds of silence, whispering filled the hall like a gust of wind as those who knew what had happened at the Marchbankses' filled in those who didn't.

Though he was used to drawing attention and generating whispering when he entered a room, James found this experience to be a bit unsettling. Why did everyone have to stare, especially at Alice and Morwenna? If they knew what had happened to them, why were they making a difficult situation worse for them?

It was a distinct relief to everyone to reach the Gryffindor table and be able to blend into the crowd a bit. But even at their own house table, people stared. James had never been so relieved in his life as he was when the buzz of conversation resumed.

*** 

After dinner, the seventh year Gryffindors more or less split up; Alice and Frank settled in one corner of the common room, talking in low, solemn voices, and Morwenna and Dorcas went off to bed, and, to the shock and disbelief of everyone, so did the Marauders, who claimed they were tired. Of course, nobody actually believed this, but the Marauders refused to give anything away and hurried up the stairs at a suspiciously eager pace for four people claiming to be turning in early.

So this left Lily and Kathleen to their own devices. Not wanting to disturb Alice and Frank, the two girls sat on the steps that led to the girls' dormitories, updating each other on the start of term gossip and wondering idly what their respective boyfriends and their mates were up to.

Summoning her courage, Lily brought the conversation round to what she had been avidly curious about ever since New Year's Eve. "So," Lily kept her tone deliberately casual, "what's the story with you and Remus?"

"We're together," Kathleen was going for noncommittal, but it was perfectly clear to anyone with eyes in their head that she was overjoyed.

"That's brilliant!" Lily was overjoyed for her friends. "What made you change your mind?"

Kathleen's face sobered a bit. "I suppose it was what we went through together when the Death Eaters attacked."

"But you were together before that!" Lily exclaimed, confused. "You were kissing at midnight and you were smiling and laughing together before that. You spent most of the party off talking together. You weren't together then?"

"No, when Remus and I went off to talk during the party, it was so that I could tell him that as much as I want to be with him I didn't think that we could be as serious as we were because I wouldn't ever know if I could trust him," Kathleen explained. "We agreed to spend the party together and I told him that I wanted to take it slow and figure out whether or not our relationship could work. But then after everything that happened with the Death Eaters, I guess I sort of realized that I love him and I'd be mad not to trust him because of something that isn't his fault and that I didn't want to take it slow because I already know that I'm in love with him."

"Wow," Lily digested this information. "Have you told him this?"

Kathleen nodded, grinning ear to ear. "I sort of blurted it out while Remus was having his arm looked after by a Healer, and Remus told me he'd pretty much known that he loved me since first year." She blushed a bit, remembering, and Lily grinned back at her.