The plan was, once a week on Friday nights after supper we'd meet in the Astronomy tower. We had time to pull this plan off, but we had to get down to business. Which meant, sooner rather than later everyone needed to get over their personal grudges. The first night James, Peter, Remus and Sirius sat against the tower door while Evan, Regulus and Pandora sat against the far wall, leaving myself, Dorcas, Lily and Marlene in the middle of the room acting as a barrier.
After that night I talked with my boys while Dorcas talked to hers. As the weeks went on the gap got smaller. Cas, Marls, Lily and I still acted as a barrier between the two houses, but we were making progress. The Slytherins would hardly talk to the marauders and vice verse. The four of us acted as owls to relay the messages.
This week I had my weight resting against Marlene as I faced my brother.
"Please, for the love of Merlin. Talk to each other! This isn't going to work if we can't work together." I groaned. James turned his head.
"She's right, y'know." Evan chimed in. Moony shot him a look.
"Who are you to talk about what's right?" He shot back. Moony still didn't trust Rosier, and for good reason. Granted, when you punch someone in the nose you'd think that'd be enough.
"Look, you guys don't like us. Feelings are mostly mutual. But, we all want to pull off something great, none of us can do it without each other. Let's put the grudges aside and give Hogwarts a big fuck you for the end of the year." Rosier replied. I stared at him while he spoke.
"That was the most profound thing you've ever said." Pandora said under her breath with a laugh. Regulus cracked a smile.
"Look, I'm the last one to ever side with Rosier, but he has a point." James said. I looked back at him shocked.
"I mean we want to do the damn thing, right? Let's do it." Sirius added. We all nodded and went back to work planning who had to be where and doing what.
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"You're my best friend and I love you, but if you keep talking I'm actually going to punch you in the mouth." I said laying the book over my face. My head was in Moony's lap, we were supposed to be reading each others favorite books of the year, but he would not shut up about how Regulus looked at me.
I was reading The Count of Monte Cristo, while he was supposed to be reading To Kill a Mockingbird. He had a lighter read than I did and while I was trying to get through a hundred and seventeen chapters he was chatting my ear off. Moony always gave me big books for our yearly read, I started to doubt they were ever his favorites but rather he just wanted to see if I would finish them. He always got books that reminded me of him. My favorite book hadn't changed since I was a child, he would have read Le Petit Prince a million times by now.
"I'm just saying Vix, friends don't look at friends that way."
"You look at Sirius like that." I shot back, pulling the book off my face to watch his reaction. He turned a deep red and pointed to my book.
"What- er, what chapter are you on now anyway? Looks like you've got a lot left. We," He coughed awkwardly. "We should read, you have a hundred and seventeen chapters to get through in the next few weeks." I laughed as I turned back to reading my book. Moony's free hand found the top of my head again and between flipping pages he scratched my scalp. I'd lean into him every so often.
"Aren't they just the cutest?" I heard James gush. I rolled my eyes as I kept reading.
"Oh, just adorable." Sirius mimicked back. I looked over my book at them.
"Y'know if anyone had to end up with my sister, I'm glad it's you Moony." James joked, Sirius gulped but fake a cheesy grin. I stuck my tongue in my cheek.
"I'm in love with Lily actually." I replied, turning back to my book. James gasped.
"My own sister, betrayal. Hey, is that-"
"Nope." Remus cut in.
"Not a funny joke." I added. James slumped his shoulders down and sat on the arm of the couch.
"He would've laughed." He muttered as Sirius walked to the other side of Remus to sit in the arm chair. I shook my head.
"Nope, it was a stupid joke." I replied. He sunk down against the back of the couch. I felt Sirius staring at me. I sat up and looked over at him while James took the opportunity to slide into the couch next to me.
"Nova, do you really think this is going to work?" He asked. He gestured with his hands to the room. I looked at him confused.
"I think the common room works quite fine, Siri." I replied. He huffed in annoyance.
"No, the whole thing with the other and the things we're trying to do and- and, shit I don't know." He rambled. I sat up straighter while Moony put his book down. We looked at each other briefly.
"We can call it off anytime you want to, if it's too much, or if you think it's going to go to shit, we can stop." I told him, he shook his head.
"You guys don't get it." He huffed and stormed off to his dorm. The three of us looked at each other.
"I got it," I told them as I stood up. "I think I know what this is about." I walked after him down the hall to his room. I knocked on the door softly.
"Go away James." I cracked the door open.
"Not James." I joked as I stepped in.
"Nova, I'm fine."
"You're obviously not Sirius." He bit at his cheek. I sat down on his bed while he laid back against his pillows and stared at the ceiling. He took a deep breath.
"Have you ever cared about someone so much, but you knew you couldn't help them. Like no matter what you did or said you knew that they were ultimately fucked for eternity?" I took a deep breath and crawled up next to him.
"I have. I think we feel that way about the same person."
"He can't be a part of this Vix. At first I though, oh hey cool I get to do something fun with my brother again. Then I was like oh shit, my brother hates me and my friends. Now I'm like, they will actually kill my brother if he gets caught doing this, let alone helping me do this. I saved my life at the expense of him. I can't let him ruin his life for helping me." He started to cry, I cupped his face in my hands. He leaned into me.
"We'll call it off. It's okay. I don't think any of us realized the circumstances we were putting you under and I am so fucking sorry for not thinking about that, Siri. I'll tell them it's done, okay?" I cooed at him, he looked like a hurt puppy nuzzling into my hand. He nodded as I spoke but never looked me in the eye.
"I'm sorry for ruining your plan, Nova."
"We'll do it another time, just the four of us. Maybe seventh year, yeah? Go out with a bang." He nodded and pulled me into a hug.
"Thank you for taking care of him for me."
