metanoia

Chapter Thirty

"Maybe I should just give up on trying to convince Lily to date me. It's getting really depressing, always getting turned down," James whined at lunch that afternoon, longingly watching Lily laugh with Letti, Marlene and Alice down the Gryffindor table.

Alex follows his gaze to her friend, laughing mischievously as she shrugged and popped a grape into her mouth, "Maybe you shouldn't."

The four Marauders look at her curiously, confused by her laugh. "Twilight, what do you know?" asked Remus, laughing uncomfortably at the smirk Alex had coupled her mischievous chuckle with.

She quietly arose from her spot on the bench, taking a drink from her goblet after wiping the palms of her hands on her pant legs, "Well I don't know Moony, what do I know? Good day boys."

During Herbology the four Gryffindor boys spent the entirety of the class bugging her, earning a detention from Professor Sprout for disrupting class as well as losing house points for Gryffindor because of their disruptions. At dinner, rather than sitting with the quartet and the Prewett twins, Alex sat with her other friends.

"Hello Alex, since when do you eat with us instead of the Marauders? Not that I'm complaining, I love you but you normally sit with the boys," Alice giggles as Frank Longbottom slid into the seat next to her.

Alex piles potatoes and greens onto her plate, shrugging as she cocked her head in the direction of the Marauders, "I needed a break from the idiocy." She flips her hair over her shoulder and puffs her chest out, "I'm Sirius Black and I'm the greatest thing to have graced these halls. I annoy my friend until I've gained detention."

The group burst into a fit of giggles at her impersonation of Sirius. Frank straightened his body out, lowering his voice a third, "I'm Remus Lupin. I'm always sick. My best mates are idiots but don't worry, I'm the good one."

Lily waved her wand and glasses that were identical to James Potter's appeared on her face. She crossed her arms, posing philosophically with her thumb cradling her chin, "I'm James Potter and I shag girls left and right because I don't care about anyone except for myself."

"Well, that took a turn," Alex trails off quietly as the laughter died down, uncomfortably looking down at her cousin who was intensely watching their every move with curiosity.

"Yeah, what was that, Lils? I thought you liked Potter?" asked Marlene as she pushed her food around her plate with the fork.

"I thought I did too. It-it just.. came out," Lily admits before rushing out of the Great Hall.

Feeling the need to try and help the situation Alex ran after Lily, not sure whether she was going to have to console her or talk some sense into the redhead, finally finding her in their dormitory. Lily was laying across her bed, spread out like a starfish with Crookshanks sitting beside her head. She sat at the end of her friend's bed, rolling her eyes as the ginger cat left its post by Lily's head and relocated itself on her lap, "Are you alright, Lily?"

"What's wrong with me, Alex? I've never been jealous before and that came out of nowhere, like I suddenly was jealous of every girl he's ever been with," Lily explains sitting up in bed.

"He loves you, Evans. Every time he was with someone else was to get over you because you hated him for years. You can't exactly get mad at him for that," Alex tells her, watching the redhead's reaction before leaving her to her thoughts.

That chilly Wednesday morning Alex walked down to breakfast with the Prewett Twins, helping them plan their most elaborate prank on the Marauders because now with her in their innermost circle it makes it easier to prank them. After listening to Fabian complain for the fifth time that morning about how cold it was, the trio sat with the Marauders and began laughing with them and joking about what happened at dinner the evening before.