➪ COSMIC ➪

"YOU GOT EVERYTHING?"

"Yes, Princess," Sirius chuckled, "you have no need to worry. And, besides, I'm sure you'll be able to owl me something if I do forget it." He looked ahead, where the rest of the students who were heading home were already gathered.

"That's why I was asking," Loki sighed, "because I don't want to have to owl you anything."

"Does Sirius have everything?" Remus spoke up when he heard the voices of the pair.

"He says he does, but I'm becoming less sure of it," Loki replied, glancing back at Sirius. "Do you have everything, Remus?"

"Yes," he nodded with pride. "I double-checked it all this morning."

"Great," Loki let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself, Loki?" Lily pushed past Remus and Sirius, enveloping Loki in a tight hug. "You won't miss us too badly, will you?"

Loki returned her hug with a smile. "I'll be fine, Lils. You go enjoy Easter."

"Marlene and I will send you chocolates," Lily smiled. 

"ALucy and I decided to, too!" Max raised his hand, his arm resting over Lucy's shoulders.

"You don't have to," Loki smiled. "You should all get going now. I don't want you to be late for the carriages."

"Too bad if we are," Sirius laughed.

"We'll see you in two weeks." Lily hugged Loki once more. "Bye!" She, Marlene, Max, Lucy and Peter made their way to the carriages waiting for them with a wave back to the girl.

"We'll see you later, love," Remus smiled, giving the Hufflepuff a short kiss. "Don't forget to owl."

Sirius stepped in, directing her gaze to him. He smiled at her, giving her a wink before pressing his lips to hers.

"See you later, Princess."

"See you."

The two boys waved to Loki as they followed the other group to the carriages, occasionally looking back to her with a grin. Once they disappeared around the corner, Loki was getting ready to head back to the Hufflepuff Common Room; however, she spotted James and Nicolas standing several metres away, speaking to one another. Loki paused, cocking her head as she watched. Nicolas seemed to sense the gaze of his best friend and turned her way. He smiled, looking back at James for a brief moment and saying something else, to which James nodded and headed out to the carriages. Nicolas hesitated after he left before strolling over to Loki.

"Are you going to be alright with him as your neighbour?" Loki joked, pulling the boy in for a hug.

"I'll be fine now, I think," Nicolas smiled, giving the girl a pat on her back as he used his other hand to run through his hair. "I think James and I are going to hang out over the holidays."

"Yeah?" Loki pulled back. "Doing what?"

"Just chilling. Listening to some music and whatnot. Talk about Quidditch. That's if Sirius will let us, seeing as he apparently lives with them." Loki sent him a questioning look. Nicolas nodded, looking down at his feet. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked out to the carriages. "It's going to take some time to get over him, I think, but I can do it. He's in love with Lily, and I can respect that. I'm not going to force him to be anything."

"What has he said to you about it?" Loki inquired.

"James needs some time to figure everything out. He knows he likes Lily, but he said he was willing to look into some things."

"I'm glad," Loki smiled, tenderly placing her hand on his arm. "You should get going now, Nic."

"Yeah," he gave her a one-armed hug one more time. "I'll see you later."

➪

"WE MISS YOU!"

Loki smiled, tracing the edges of the polaroid with the pad of her finger. She smiled at the small messages from her friends scrawled around the three words. It was clear who was who, with Remus signing his initials after his and Sirius's handwriting underneath it. She flipped back over to the picture of all of them, Max, Marlene, Nic, Lily, Lucy and the Marauder boys, lounging in someone's lounge room, grinning at the camera.

Lily and James were cuddled on a beanbag in the top left, with Nic sticking his feet up on James's legs from his spot on the floor as he smiled upside down. Max had his arm draped over Lucy's shoulder, the two of them beaming widely. Marlene sat cross-legged on the floor, blowing a kiss to the camera. Peter sat beside her, also with his legs crossed, with his elbows on his knees as both hands propped his head up. Then there was Remus and Sirius. Remus was leaning against the sofa where Max and Lucy sat, his legs out in front of him, a chocolate frog in one hand as the other propped his head up. Sirius's head laid on his legs, the rest of his body faced toward the camera as he grinned broadly at it. One hand rested behind his head, the other across his stomach.

"I miss you, too," Loki whispered at the photo. "Just a week left."

➪

"AND THAT'S... THERE."

Loki smiled proudly at the moved the final piece of the puzzle to its correct place. She leant back, looking down at it with glee. The moving image of a Norwegian Ridgeback displayed itself to her, and she let out a sigh. Her green eyes flicked up to the clock sitting on the Hufflepuff fireplace mantle, the hands on it showing her the time was a quarter to six.

"Another day spent productively," she smiled to herself. She was telling the truth because, despite the fact Loki had been constructing the puzzle for an hour, she'd managed to complete two assignments and had finished one of the numerous books she was reading. "I suppose dinner is in order," she smiled, standing up from the sofa and making her way out of the Common Room.

She looked back at the clock and smiled—only a few more days before they would be back.

➪

"DID YOU MISS US?"

Loki spun around faster than she'd ever done on her life. Her heart swelled at the sight of Remus and Sirius standing on front of her, and she leapt up from her seat at the Gryffindor table, her cutlery clattering as she dropped it. Her arms wrapped around the boys, pulling them close to her like they'd disappear if she let them go.

"You said you'd be alright without us," Remus laughed, burying his head into the crook of her neck because he wouldn't admit he missed her terribly, too.

"I was," Loki replied, "doesn't mean I can't miss you."

"Maybe next time you should come with us," Sirius suggested, peppering light kisses over her face. "You won't have to worry about going home because you could stay with Nic. We'd be able to hang out all the time, then."

"It's not a bad idea, actually," Remus smiled at his best friend.

Loki finally let the boys go, but Remus kept his hand in hers, and Sirius refused to remove his hand from her shoulders.

"I could," Loki beamed. "But are you sure you won't get sick of me?"

"Loki, darling," Sirius shot her a disbelieving look, "I don't there would be a day on earth we would get sick of you. If anything, you should be worried about getting sick of us!" Sirius dramatically gestured between him and Remus.

"Impossible," Loki laughed. "Hey, would you two like to go on a date this weekend?"

"I think that's called for," Remus smiled. "Sirius?"

"Um, of course," he scrunched his face up momentarily as if Remus asked him a stupid question.

"Great," Loki smiled.

➪ AUTHOR'S NOTE ➪

hey, how are? have you been drinking water today? well, it doesn't matter if you have or haven't, go have some now. or, if it's late, make sure you have some when you wake up from your sleep, because sleep is much more important.

anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter. leave a comment, vote, and I'll see you next time, my wonderful friend. bye! :)