Chapter 45

Adria sat in the library four days before everyone had to leave for Christmas break, with classes and everything that had happened with her, talking to Thea for Peter had completely slipped her mind, but now as she sat alone at the table in the corner, she could see Thea sitting with who she assumed was her friends from Ravenclaw.

She was trying to make it obvious that she wasn't there to talk to her, she had even brought her notebook which she was doodling in so that it seemed as though she was actually busy and it was just a coincidence that they were both there.

Adria looked up for the fourth time, her eyes trailing around the library casually until she caught sight of the four boys making their way into the library, her eyebrows furrowed as they spotted her, and soon enough they made their way towards her hurriedly.

"Remus found out about operation A," Sirius groaned as he took the seat next to her, Peter sat on her other side whilst James and Remus sat across from her, "and he wouldn't listen to us so we needed to find you."

"Remus found out, or you all told him?" asked Adria, raising her eyebrow whilst the boys grinned sheepishly.

"We didn't know he was in the dorm!" James protested their cause whilst Adria gave him a look of disbelief.

"How can you not know he was in the dorms, he's a literal giraffe!" she pointed to him, whilst the boys snickered and it was Remus' turn to give Adria a look.

"I don't think you should do it," Remus sighed, "it's dangerous, and you are the last person I would think would condone this, Ads."

"Tough," Adria shrugged, "Remus we are doing this whether you like it or not, this is going to benefit you and if it means you aren't going to hurt yourself then I have absolutely no problem risking it, and neither do the boys."

"Exactly, Remus, this is what we where trying to tell him!" James huffed, rolling his eyes whilst Remus grumbled under his breath.

"He listens to me because I'm his favourite," Adria shrugged, grinning when Remus high fived her.

"Remus doesn't have favourites," Sirius huffed, nudging her slightly.

"Lets be real, I'm all of your favourites," she smirked, leaning her head on Sirius who rolled his eyes.

"Keep telling yourself that," Sirius scoffed, she turned her head to look at him with a frown, pouting when he smiled innocently at her, "course you're my favourite," He muttered, watching the wide grin spread across her lips.

"Oi!" James exclaimed, and as though on que the five of them hid their face from the librarian as she looked up, "what about me?"

Adria covered her mouth to hide her laughter as she looked between Sirius and James who was pouting just like she did, "and me?" Remus piped in with a frown.

"Yeah what do you mean, Ads is your favourite?!" Peter grumbled, all of them looking at Sirius whose eyes trailed to Adria for help.

"Who cuddles him?" Adria asked, "me, exactly, why wouldn't I be favourite?"

"Yeah, true," Sirius nodded, throwing his arm around her and pulling her into his side, "she's warm too."

"Exactly," Adria grinned, high fiving him, "don't worry, all of you are my favourites because I'm not selfish." She teased, looking at Sirius who glared at her.

"Anyway, back to operation A," she nodded, "Remus you have no reason to be wary, we've practiced the incantation, I could recite it off of the top of my head right now, and it's only for a month, it might be hard but the best time to do it is when we are off, so for the two weeks we are off, starting the day after we leave Hogwarts and two weeks we come back, we are going to do this!"

"But what if one of you don't do it and three of you do?" Remus asked.

"Then we will help them until we are ready," Adria sighed, smiling reassuringly. She reached over the table, taking his hand and squeezing it whilst his shoulders slumped, "don't worry about it, Rems, it's okay."

"So now that that is out of the way," James spoke, "why where you here on your own?"

"I was trying to talk to Thea," she whispered, huddling closer to the boys who done the same, "for Peter, but she's with her friends so I was waiting until they left."

"Why are you talking to her again?" Remus asked, arching his eyebrow whilst Adria shrugged.

"Because Peter really likes her and he just doesn't know how to tell her," Adria said truthfully, patting Peter's back with a small smile.

"So you're playing matchmaker?" James teased, a small smirk on his lips.

"Well, James, if I was matchmaker, you and Lily would be together already but you wont even tell her you like her," Adria rolled her eyes, "and if matchmaker will make Peter happy then yes, I'm matchmaker."

"You know sometimes you're so funny I forget to laugh," James grumbled sarcastically, rolling his eyes whilst Adria grinned, "but I think you forget that Evans hates me, and will forever."

"Y'know I don't like arguing with you about this but for the billionth time, you bully Severus and I know you all don't want to hear it but it's cruel and you can wind me up about how I don't condone it but I don't for a reason, it's embarrassing, and if it was me, or my best friend then I'd hate you too. I don't like Severus either but he's still only human." Adria sighed.

"You sure?" Sirius scoffed, earning a few snickers from the boys as she sighed, grabbing her book, she stood up.

"It was a joke Ads," Sirius sighed when he noticed the look on her face, he grabbed her hand to stop her but she shook her heads.

"Yeah I know it's a joke, but again, it's not a very nice one is it? What would you do if someone targeted you constantly just to wind you up, and what if your best friend had to deal with you ranting and raving all the time, because that's what Lily needs to go through, and she is upset because of it, no wonder she doesn't like you, I don't think I would either in her position, it also doesn't help that Severus is pushing her away when all she wants to do is help," Adria sighed, shaking her head disapprovingly, "it's really unfair, and I'm not lecturing you, but just lay off a bit."

Adria gripped her notebook tightly as she walked out of the library, she smiled kindly as she passed Thea, who returned it brightly. Thea turned to her friends with a small smile, gesturing one minute as she rose from her seat and followed Adria out of the library.

"Feel a bit bad now," Peter mumbled, shrugging his shoulders as his eyes trailed back to her friends.

"She doesn't even see what we do to Snivellus and he's just as bad, she mostly hears Evans' side of the story, which is Snivellus' version, we aren't that bad," James defended them, whilst the boys merely shrugged.

"I suppose," Peter sighed, his eyes trailing around the library in hopes to see Thea, but he frowned when she wasn't sat with her friends.

"Adria has never called us out on it before though," Sirius sighed, "we obviously know she doesn't condone it but she's never spoke about it before."

"Yeah," Remus nodded his head in agreement as guilt bubbled in the pit of his stomach, as well as the other threes.

"Adria!" Thea called after the girl as she walked down the hall, she turned at the sound of her name, slightly confused by the unfamiliar voice until she spotted Thea waving her over.

She smiled as she walked back down the hall in Thea's direction, waving slightly and stopping when she was right in front of her, "I hope you don't think I'm weird after this," Thea trailed off, flipping her blonde hair behind her as she looked at Adria, "okay, you're friends with Peter, right?"

"Yeah," Adria laughed, nodding her head, "I mean he's a bit of an idiot at times, but he's still my friend."

Thea giggled at Adria's words, leaning slightly against the wall as she took a deep breath, "so, I like him," she trailed off, her cheeks tinging pink that she admitted it, "but, I just, I don't think he likes me because whenever I talk to him it's as if he's interested in the conversation but it just feels a little one sided, I just, I wanted to talk to one of his friends but not one of the boys, y'know?"

"Oh yeah, definitely, the other boys are idiots too," she laughed, "Thea, I can assure you that Peter likes you too, he goes on about you constantly!"

"Really?" Thea asked, her eyes bright with happiness and a wide smile etched across her lips, "I just didn't think that was the case, I thought maybe he just wanted to be nice when he talked to me."

"No," Adria shook her head furiously, "he's shy, It took him months to finally get him to talk to me, he just needs to be comfortable with someone and the boys got it into his head that you where talking to him as a prank."

Thea's eyes widened as she shook her head this time, "no of course not, I would never do that!"

"I know!" Adria sighed, "the boys are just idiots, they think they're being funny when they clearly aren't," she grumbled, a frown on her lips as Thea eyed her curiously.

"I take it you all had an argument?" Thea asked, a sympathetic smile on her lips whilst Adria shrugged her shoulders with a small nod.

"Of the sorts," she bit her lip, "they think their pranks are funny when I think the exact opposite but they just take it as one big joke, and they mean well, they all have big hearts and they prank people to make everyone laugh but they don't realise that the victim is mostly humiliated!"

"Yeah I understand, and it must be tough for you because you don't want to lecture them because you're their friends, and Sirius' girlfriend so it's hard to get it through to them," Thea sighed, patting Adria's shoulder whilst her face heated up.

"I'm, uh, I'm not Sirius' girlfriend," she mumbled embarassadley, a small smile on her face as Thea's eyes widened.

"You're not?!" she gasped, "I was so sure that you where, you're both so close!"

"Yeah," Adria giggled softly, "we are "going with the flow"." She used her fingers for air quotations, whilst she rolled her eyes, leaving Thea in a fit of giggles.

"Which of course you don't want," Thea said, whilst Adria nodded.

"Trust me, if you like Peter just say, Peter you're my boyfriend, lets go," Adria chuckled, "because it gets complicated otherwise." Thea's giggles continued as she nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind," she smiled, "thank you, I'm glad we could talk."

"Me too," Adria smiled, "I'll try and knock some sense into Peter but I might end up using a book to whack it into the back of his head." Thea laughed loudly, covering her mouth with her hand.

The four boys passed them as they exited the library, and whilst Adria could feel their stares on her, they still passed her by without talking to her, she frowned until Thea nudged her head at something behind her, and Adria turned around to see the boys huddled together just up the hall.

"They are either going to apologise or try and steer me to the world of pranks," Adria rolled her eyes, waving at Thea as she bid her goodbye.

"We're sorry," the four muttered in unison as Adria approached them, she rolled her eyes as she stood on her tiptoes, throwing her arms around Sirius and Remus with a small smile on her lips.

"Apology accepted," Adria chuckled, "Thea now knows what idiots you all are, so I guess we're even."

"What?!" Peter screeched, wide eyed as he looked back at Thea who had already entered the library.

"She also knows that you like her and that you're just a little shy," Adria chuckled, "and trust me, she really likes you."

"Are you sure?" Peter mumbled, his cheeks tinging red whilst Adria's smile widened.

"I'm one hundred percent positive."

"Matchmaker Adria strikes," James joked, smirking as Adria rolled her eyes.

"Matchmaker Adria is going to hex you if you don't shut up," she smiled innocently, patting James' cheek as he raised his arms in defence.

"Matchmaker Adria is feisty," Sirius scoffed from beside her, she rolled her eyes as she nudged him.

"Matchmaker Adria is hungry," she announced, earning laughs from her friends as she lead the way to the great hall.