➪ TENNE ➪

"THAT'S ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL."

"Lily, come on," James trailed behind the red-head, unable to hold back a grin despite the guilty expression he tried desperately to keep up. "I was just joking."

Lily ignored the boy and sat down beside Loki, who sat with Max and Lucy at the Hufflepuff table. The Gryffindor huffed. She turned her back on James and smiled in greeting at the others.

"Lily, come on!" James tried to swing his arm over the girl's shoulder. "Please?" Lily, once again, kept ignoring him.

"Lover's quarrel?" Nicolas appeared behind James, stepping around him and planting himself on Loki's other side.

"Can you convince Lily to look at me?" James begged.

Nicolas snorted, scrunching his face up. "No. Your problem, mate. She's your girlfriend." James lifted his arms in disbelief, narrowing his eyes at the Hufflepuff.

"What did he do, Lily?" Max queried. His blue eyes darted from James to Lily, then Lucy, who offered him a smile.

"It was a prank," Lily muttered bitterly. "One played on me."

"It wasn't meant for you, Lils, I swear," James pouted. He sat down on the bench beside Lily.

"James," Loki spoke up for the first time since they'd come over, and the boy with glasses moved his gaze to her, "I think it's best to let Lily calm down first. It's never good to talk with someone who is upset because of you until they've settled." James frowned, looking between Lily and Loki. "It's a good idea, James. Please?"

The Gryffindor boy sighed before wordlessly getting off the seat. He made a move to kiss Lily but quickly forgot about the idea and moved away.

"Are you alright, Lily?" Nicolas queried as soon as James was out of earshot. Lily tucked her hands under her arms, lowered her head and nodded.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm not mad only because of James. I'm just a bit overwhelmed with things at the moment, I suppose. Our exams are a month away, and next year will be our last, and the war is going on and..." Lily ran a hand through the red hair on her head, lifting her eyes to the ceiling, which showed the sunny morning. "I'm not ready to let all of this go just yet."

"We'll still be friends, Lily," Lucy smiled. Her nose twitched, and a click from her mouth followed. She looked away in embarrassment, and Max slung his arm over her shoulder.

"You better send some photos when we're out of here, Lucy," Lily laughed. "I want to know all the drama that goes on when I'm not here."

"Of course," Lucy replied, looking back up. 

"Hey, after this, maybe we should hang out," Max spoke up. "No Marauders, no drama, just us. And Marlene. Bring her, too, because she's also a part of this group."

"Oh, Loki," Nicolas pouted, and Loki rolled her eyes, knowing what was coming her way, "do you think you can go without Remus and Sirius for that long?" He teased.

"Nic, my entire existence doesn't revolve around them," Loki replied. "Just because I happen to be around them a lot doesn't mean anything."

"They're in the honeymoon phase, Nic, give them a chance," Lily joined in.

"I can't wait until you have your first lover's quarrel," Nicolas hummed. Loki stuck her tongue out at the boy. "Shot not for when you cry." He spoke, raising his hand.

"Nic!" Loki huffed, and the group erupted in laughter.

"It's alright, Loki," Max spoke, stifling his chuckles, "I love you enough to take on that responsibility. Just don't put snot on me, and we'll be good."

Max, that's not helping!" The sixth-year groaned, burying her face in her palms, extracting another round of laughter from the others.

➪

"I LOVE THIS."

"Yeah," Nicolas agreed with Max, "we should do this more often. Why don't we?"

"Because we're all terrible at planning things," Marlene replied. "Except Lily and Loki. Without them, I doubt we would be doing anything like this. I doubt we would even be friends."

"Don't say that, Marlene," Nicolas replied, sitting up from where his head rested on Loki's legs, "I'm sure you and I eventually would have become best friends."

"And why's that?" Marlene raised her eyebrow, a smirk toying on her lips. "You and I are in two separate houses, with two very different interests."

"Yeah, they're different, but they're so similar," Nicolas retorted.

"Do you have any idea what they're talking about?" Max whispered into Loki' ear, leaning over with his eyes glued on the pair. Loki shook her head in response, frowning at Nicolas and Marlene. "Okay, glad I'm not the only one."

"Anyway," Marlene cleared her throat, breaking the intense eye contact she was holding with the male Hufflepuff, "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but do you know what you're doing once we've left? I know I want a job as a seamstress, dealing with clothing and stuff; I think that would be fun. That, or something to do with Charms work."

"I want to be a professional Quidditch player," Nicolas grinned. He laid back down on Loki's legs. "It's pretty much all I've wanted to be since I was little." He looked up at his best friend, who smiled fondly at him.

"I want to go places and do things," Max spoke up. "I want to be a writer, tell stories of the world." The group noticed the twinkle in his eye as he thought about it.

"I didn't know you like writing, Max," Lily spoke up, cocking her head at him. He brought his gaze to the red-haired girl, red tinting his cheeks.

"It's just a hobby," he replied bashfully, hanging his head. "What about you, Lily? What do you want to do?"

"Oh, I don't know," she sighed. "Maybe working with people in a hospital? Or I could work as a professor back here." She turned her head to the castle and sighed.

"I think you just want an excuse not to leave," Marlene laughed.

"I, for one, think you would do great as a teacher, Lily," Lucy spoke up. Lily smiled fondly at the younger girl.

"I know you're a year below us, Luc, but do you know what you want to do?" Lucy shook her head in response to Max's question. "Loki, I think none of us need to ask what you want to be." He smirked knowingly at the Hufflepuff.

"You're going to become a world-famous artist, and Sirius and Remus are going to come to every art show and have absolutely zero ideas what people talk about while they praise your art," Nicolas spoke. "You're going to have a multitude of paintings in Hogwarts that Lily will admire every time she walks up the stairs. And then when you have kids, you're going to have a painting dedicated to each one."

"Actually, I thought maybe I'll become a magizoologist," Loki retorted, flicking her best friend's head. "Painting can be my side hustle. I'll get a hell of a lot more money that way. And at least I'll have something to fall back on."

"Of course, you have it figured out," Nicolas snorted.

"I'm just cautious," Loki raised her hands. "And I'd prefer having paintings dedicated to my plants, Nic. But I'll definitely make sure to have a great big ugly one hanging right in the main stairwell, and guess what it's going to be of?"

"What?" Nicolas raised his eyebrow.

"You," Loki replied and stuck out her tongue.

"You little-" Nicolas sat up and tackled Loki to the ground, ticking her viciously. "You take that back!"

Loki gasped for air, howls of laughter tearing from her throat. "Ne--never!" She managed to cry out.

➪ AUTHOR'S NOTE ➪

hello, friends! how are you all? i hope you're all doing well, and if you're in school, you're attempting your homework/assessments. it may be challenging, but that's alright. you've just got to keep pushing through, alright? i believe in you, and i know you can get through this.

i hope you're all drinking water, too. and please grab a snack if you can. get some fresh air if you haven't already, too, when you can. your lungs will thank you for it, trust me.

i will see you later, though, friends. thank you for reading. until next time. bye! :)