Prongs {Book One}

Chapter Twelve - About Time

SEV.

"How'd you do in the potions essay?" Reese caught up with me on our way to class, "Should I be worried that I got a P? Slughorn says that it's a reflection of our OWLs or something."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," I mumbled absently, not really paying attention to what Reese was saying.

"You got an O, didn't you?" Reese said glumly.

I nodded, still not really listening.

My eyes had honed in on Lily's red hair, and she was having a heated discussion with Mark.

She looked angry. Really angry.

"Sev?"

"About bloody time," I muttered.

"What?" But I was already walking away from Reese, towards Lily and Mark.

"-trust Mary, and she told me she'd seen you with Sierra Jones," Lily was saying, "and this also explains Hogsmeade. You went to the bathroom for forty minutes? At the same time as Sierra, no less?"

A lot of people were listening, Mark going a deeper and deeper shade of scarlet.

"Can we talk about this somewhere else-"

"No. You explain yourself, right here, right now."

"Listen, Sierra was just a fling. She didn't mean anything-"

"Oh, and I've never heard that line before, you moron."

"I'm serious, Lily, it was just once-"

"Just once?"

"Okay, twice. Twice with Sierra. That's it. I swear. And it didn't mean anything, Lily-"

"So I didn't mean anything either?"

"What? No!"

"Because as soon as I heard you were cheating, I talked to Sierra. Guess what - she was under the impression that you'd broken up with me, and that you'd told her I was 'just a fling'. So guess what, Mark? It's over."

"No, Lily, please-" she had already stalked off.

I couldn't hide the triumphant grin on my face - even though I hadn't scored the winning blow, this felt like a victory.

---

"Can you believe him?" Lily hissed as we sat in the library, researching for a history of magic essay, "Dating two girls at once? And both of us thought were so naive!"

"It's ridiculous," I agreed, trying not to smile.

"And of course, James Potter is just going to take this as a chance to try and date me."

"You're not... actually considering-"

"You think I'd sink that low, Sev? Honestly. Mark is the last Quidditch player I ever date," she said with finality. I nodded, only half convinced. Hidden behind my book, A History Of Magic, I let out a sigh and smiled to myself.

Hopefully this would at least put Lily off Quidditch players for some time.

"Are you going home for the holidays?" I asked Lily.

"No," she sighed, "I told mum and dad it's because we have a lot of work, but... After you left in the Christmas holidays, I had a big row with Petunia. I think she needs more time to cool off."

"What did you row about? Is she still jealous, or..."

"A mix of everything, really. Of course she's jealous, though - I get to go and learn magic, and she doesn't? I did some research, and either it's a very rare case that only I got the magical genes - and when I say rare, I mean like one in a million - or she's a squib."

"She's having a rough time, then?"

"Yeah. Whenever I get home, mum and dad always want to hear about the term. And Tunie listens too, then she gets angry. Angry at Dumbledore for not letting her in, angry at me for being a witch, and angry at herself." Lily sighed again, and jotted down some dates for her essay.

"I guess I'm also staying at school," I said. It wasn't that I didn't like Hogwarts (it was certainly better than my home) but I loved Lily's house. Her parents were always very welcoming, and there was only the small downside that Petunia Evans hated me.

"You don't have to, Sev."

"Yeah, I do. I'm not going back to my parents," I said firmly.

Lily looked at me sympathetically, "I'm sure they'll come round. They can't hate you,  Sev - they're your parents."

"Yeah," I said, not convinced. That was another thing Lily didn't understand - parents that didn't love their child. Just like she didn't get what is was like being in Slytherin, she couldn't imagine having parents that didn't love her - just as I couldn't understand having parents that could.

---

JAMES.

"You guys are all invited to my place for Easter," I said, reading a scroll of parchment my parents' owl, Godric, had dropped off.

"I'm in," Sirius said at once.

"Same here," said Remus.

"Me too!" Piped up Peter.

"Cool. Let me write back to her quickly..." I turned the parchment over and scribbled, Sirius, Remus and Peter all coming. See you next week. Love James. Before attaching it to Godric's leg and sending him off.

I started to eat a sausage when I noticed Lily talking to Mark.

"We've been over this, Mark. I'm not going to date you any more."

"Why not? Lily, please-"

"Mark, you cheated on me. It's over," she said, and stalked off.

"Prongs?"

"About bloody time," I muttered, a grin spreading over my face.

"What?"

"Lily broke up with Mark," I told them.

"What, did you sabotage their relationship?" Sirius teased.

"I wouldn't sink that low," I muttered.

"Wouldn't put it past you," Remus added, smiling slightly.

"Definitely something you would do," Peter agreed.

"Shut up." But I was still grinning maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.

---

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