"Carina Lennox, what the bloody hell was all that?"
Carina sighed, turning to face her redheaded roommate. "Hello to you, too, Lily." She'd hoped if she came back late enough, her roommates would all be asleep, and she'd be able to put off the questions until tomorrow. She should've known Lily would be headstrong enough to stay up and wait.
"Don't dodge the question," Lily said, rerouting it straight back to the point.
"Honestly? I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?? We were just talking about Potter this morning, how could you not tell us you two were talking like that?"
Lily's elevated voice caused the others to stir. Alice climbed out of her bed, joining the two of them. She discreetly cast muffling charms on the others' beds to keep from waking them.
"What's going on here?" She whispered urgently. "And why could it not wait until morning?"
"Carina and Potter are together," Lily exclaimed.
"What?" Alice's mouth gaped like a fish out of water.
"We are not!" Carina insisted vehemently. "I'm as confused as you are about tonight, this is certainly the first time he's been behaving like this."
"Wait, what exactly happened?"
"He snuck out to Honeydukes to get Carina her favorite chocolate, and then led her out of Great Hall hand in hand, insisting on walking her back to the common room." Lily filled Alice in.
Alice stared at Carina questioningly, but she could only shrug helplessly. Her best bet was to act as oblivious as the rest of them.
"I have no idea what he's up to any more than the rest of you," she insisted. "Maybe he's just being nice?"
"James Potter doesn't do nice and chivalrous." Lily snorted.
"He can when he chooses to!"
"Not before now, at least. But apparently, he thinks you're worth the effort," Alice smirked.
"You sure there isn't anything going on?" Lily asked Carina seriously.
"I swear this is just as much news to me as it is to you," Carina confirmed.
"Hmm..." Lily thought pensively. "I think he's up to something."
Alice rolled her eyes. "What in the world makes you think that?"
"Because he didn't even say anything to me all dinner!" Lily cried. "Just this morning he was out stalking me by the lake, there's no way he's had such a change of heart in one day."
"Did you say anything to him this morning?" Carina suggested.
"Only the usual."
Alice nodded knowingly. "So the usual 'leave me alone, you arrogant toe rag,' and 'I despise you, there's no way we will ever be together?"
Lily nodded sheepishly.
"Well, maybe you just pushed the bloke away one too many times," Alice said a-matter-of-factly. "And honestly, it's probably for the best, he deserves to move on. Merlin knows you've wanted him to leave you alone for ages."
Carina had to pull together every ounce of concentration to keep herself from laughing. Here she thought she'd have to wrangle with Lily to get her to believe this crazy story James had concocted, but Alice was doing all the work for her. Besides, it seemed a lot more credible coming from her considering she wasn't even at dinner tonight with them.
YOU ARE READING
Tides of Fate | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀs ᴇʀᴀ
Fanfiction❛ It's not like Carina would go and do something stupid like falling in love with Prongs, would she?❜ It was a terrible idea to date someone who'd been in love with someone else for years, even if it was fake. But James Potter was desperate. It was...
