I didn't like lying to my friends.
It was different before because I just wasn't telling them something. Now they were asking questions - questions I didn't want to answer but would undoubtedly have to answer eventually.
It started during our trip to Diagon Alley, and then on the train, I was practically ambushed by Elyza and Lily. Even Severus seemed invested.
It was only the end of our first full day of school, and I already felt myself buckling under the pressure. So, I had retreated to the library at the first chance I had to work on nonexistent homework, which was where Remus found me almost an hour later.
"Lily was asking about you," he commented as he settled down in a chair next to me.
"She does that," I said, stubbornly staring at my book, "What was it this time?"
"If I knew if anything was going on with you, but, uh, why did she ask me?"
"I've mentioned you on occasion. I guess she's gotten that desperate for answers."
"It's only the first day back at school."
"I was lying to them last year too, and they know it."
"You're going to lose them if you don't tell them the truth," Remus cautioned.
"And I could lose more than them if I do," I fired back, "We've had this conversation before, Remus."
"You told me."
"You told me first. Besides, you still haven't told your friends."
"Told us what?" Sirius said with a wicked grin, stepping out of the shadows of a nearby bookshelf.
I let my book fall closed and tossed Remus an accusatory glance as James and Peter popped out from beside him.
"How long were you waiting for your opening line?" I asked sweetly.
"Waiting?" he scoffed, "Sallow, I don't wait for an opening line, any line works!"
"Sure. So you weren't listening to half of our conversation?"
"No," he said.
He stayed silent for less than 10 seconds before he dissolved into laughter.
"We heard the whole thing, dummy."
"I might not know everything, but I do know that I'm smarter than you so you might want to be careful how you toss that word around."
"You're more fiery than I remember," James said, cocking an eyebrow curiously, "What in Merlin's name happened to you over the holidays?"
"I had an eye-opening conversation. It gave me a refreshed view on life."
"Is that a fancy way of saying she's going through a rebellious phase?" Sirius stage-whispered.
"I'm not 'going through a rebellious phase'," I growled.
"Sure, sure," James said, "But if you are, we'd be happy to turn four into five."
"You have to complete the initiation ceremony first," Sirius added gleefully.
"I have better things to do than entertain whatever it is that you're suggesting."
"Like pretend to do homework to avoid telling your friends some mysterious secret?" James suggested.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"It's okay, we know what it is," Sirius said confidently.
Remus and I exchanged a harried glance, half petrified, half disbelieving.
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Broken Feathers || Marauders Era
FanfictionFor Freya Sallow, it seemed like she had the worst luck in the world. She was born into a high achieving pureblood family, with sky-high expectations of her from the moment she opened her eyes. Her mother died when she was young, leaving her to be r...
