☆ 𝟚 : a night by the fire

two a night by the fire

🧣

IT WASN'T LONG before the Hogwart's Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station and hundreds of cloaked students jumped out of the train and onto the platform before racing up the path to the castle doors.

    '... but that's just reusing old pranks,' Sirius said. 'That's completely and utterly lazy and not what a true prankster would do.'

    'Is it really though?' [y/n] fired back. 'Would anyone expect pranksters to pull the same thing twice? It's the perfect thing to surprise them and catch them off guard.'

    'But wouldn't they be more comfortable than before because they know what's about to happen?' James asked. 'I'm with Pads on this.'

    'What if we change it up a bit then?' Remus suggested. 'Add a bit of a twist just as they're settling down.'

    Peter nodded his head fiercely as [y/n] said, 'Exactly what I was going to say. Godric, Pads, you would've thought Remus was my twin, not you.'

    Sirius stuck his tongue out childishly and [y/n] flicked his ear.

    'Ouch!'

    'Whoops, that was an accident, I swear.'

    'Sure it was.'

    'It wa– Ouch, Sirius!'

    'I didn't do anything!'

    'Yes you did, oh my Godric!'

    'Stop arguing.'

    'Back off, Lupin!'

    'You've released the raging, [y/n]. Her hair's turned red and all. Merlin, there's literal fire in her eyes.'

    'And you, Potter!'

    The group jumped into one of the black drawn carriages – which didn't seem to be drawn by anything at all – and continued their bickering until they reached the castle, walked through the doors, sat in the middle of the Gryffindor table and Hagrid opened up the doors to the Great Hall to allow the new first-years in.

    'Remember when we were that small and cute, Paws?' Sirius whispered to [y/n] as Carter, Jane was sorted into Hufflepuff.

    'I remember that being the case with me, not you.'

'Charming.'

The sorting continued and eventually, each house had their extra students, Gryffindor gaining eleven new recruits. Dumbledore gave his annual welcome speech of not going into the Forbidden Forest (directed at the Marauders), not getting the halls dirty because Filch hated cleaning what he just cleaned (directed at the Marauders) and keeping up the reputation of houses and not losing too many house points (directed at the Marauders).

The glorious food appeared and immediately, everyone tucked in to the piles of mash, towers of Yorkshire puddings, jugs of gravy, stacks of meat and all the vegetables in the world.

After the feast, Lily joined the Marauders to inform James, Remus and [y/n] that they were to take the first-years up to Gryffindor Tower before everyone else got there.

'Let's go to the doors and call them forward,' Lily said before walking off to the end of the table, James following in her footsteps.

'We shall see you in a few,' [y/n] said to Sirius and Peter before dragging Remus behind her to join the Head Boy and Girl.

'First-years this way! First-years over here!' James and Lily called above the noise.

Remus and [y/n] joined in the calling after Lily told them, 'There should be six boys and five girls.'

'First-years follow us!' James shouted. 'Wait, you're a Hufflepuff, go over there. First-year Gryffindors over here!'

'Are we all here?' Lily asked as she gave a quick head-count. 'Indeed we are. Let's go everyone!'

James and Lily lead the way as Remus and [y/n] kept the rear end in check.

'Be sure to keep an eye out for the moving staircases,' Lily informed the group of excited first-years. 'And watch your step here – you may have to hop a bit as the step is actually missing – that's it – brilliant! Now down here is the Transfiguration corridor – but you don't need to worry about remembering where everything is yet because I'll distribute a map for each of you to keep for your first few weeks here so that you get used to the castle without getting lost.

'Just a few more staircases to go and we'll be there, don't you worry.'

Lily continued to give a guided tour to the Gryffindor common room until eventually, they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

'And this is our stop,' James announced.

'But where's the common room? The dormitories? The actual door to get in?' one of the brunet boys asked.

'Watch and see,' Remus told him.

'This is the Fat Lady,' Lily said. 'Her portrait guards the hole into Gryffindor Tower. However, she will ask for a password in order for you to enter. You must remember this password until the new one comes around next term.'

'Password?' the Fat Lady asked.

Lily turned to the first-years and told them, 'The password is Wiggentree. Repeat after me – Wiggentree.'

'Wiggentree,' the first-years sung.

The Fat Lady swung open her portrait and the hole into the common room was revealed.

'In you go then,' James said, pointing in the direction.

The eleven students stepped in and immediately, the room was filled with gasps and the pitter patter of little eleven-year-old shoes dancing around to take a look out of the window, to search the bookcase and to sit on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

'Now,' [y/n] interrupted, 'when you've finished having a snoop around here, you can go up to your dormitories. Girls are on the left and boys on the right. Your rooms will have a sign saying first-years on the door and your luggage will be up there ready and waiting for you. Welcome to Gryffindor!'

The four seventh-years turned to each other and sighed.

'They're a handful,' James stated as Lily left to hand out her maps.

'You don't say,' [y/n] breathed. 'But hey, your first duty as Head Boy all done and dusted.'

'I'm so proud,' Remus sniffed, pretending to wipe away a tear.

'Shut up,' James grinned, rolling his eyes. 'Well, I'll be off to unpack. You coming, Moony?'

'I'm coming, Prongs.'

'See you in a bit,' [y/n] said, before making her way up to her own dormitory to unpack too.

It always took [y/n] a while to unpack as her suitcase was always a complete mess. One sock which sat on the top would have its pair buried underneath all the books, ties, skirts and pranking products at the bottom of the case. And if it wasn't for the fact that she sat and did nothing much but talk with Mary, Alice, Dorcas, Marlene and Lily when they came up to the dorm, it probably would've taken [y/n] a little less longer than the five hours it took.

At half past ten, [y/n] excused herself to go back down to the common room and spend time with her best friends, who, without a doubt, had probably missed the company of the eldest (and best) Marauder.

The common room was empty when [y/n] arrived, with the exception of James half-dangling out the window. [y/n] wasn't exactly surprised. She never was when it came to those four.

When she walked over to the window to find out what was going on, she saw that James was struggling to hold onto the ankles of her twin who was grabbing onto Peter's arm, who was holding onto Remus' hand.

'[y/n]? Could you give us a bit of help?' Peter asked.

'No, help yourselves. You're idiots,' [y/n] sighed, walking away from the scene.

'Just help us out!' Remus squealed.

'Fine,' [y/n] sighed. She stopped just behind the fireplace sofa and pulled her wand out of her back pocket, pointing it at James' tie.

'What're you doing?' James asked wearily as he turned his head to look at [y/n].

'Now, boys, this may hurt a bit but just hold onto each other, all right?' [y/n] instructed, stepping a little farther away from the sofa, still pointing her wand at the boy's chest. 

'OK,' the boys mumbled reluctantly.

'Accio tie!' she chanted.

James was pulled backwards by his tie onto the sofa with a loud thud and such a force that he bounced right off it and on to the floor, strangling him slightly in the process. However, he pulled Sirius with him who, in turn, pulled Peter and Remus with him.

'That was an experience,' Sirius gasped.

'Definitely,' Remus breathed. 'Thanks, Paws.'

'Any time, boys,' [y/n] told them. 'Sorry if that hurt, Prongs.'

'It's all right,' James mumbled, still attempting to soothe is neck by taking his tie off and rubbing the sore parts.

'So, care to explain why you were dangling out the window?' [y/n] prompted, dropping down on the sofa.

'Oh, that, right,' Sirius started. 'Well, basically, Moony was eating chocolate again and I thought that he should at least last one day without munching on the stuff so I threw the bar that he was eating out the window and he decided to jump out after it because it landed on the window ledge and then Wormtail had to grab hold of his hand but he still went flying out so I had to grab his arm and then Prongs grabbed my ankles and then we couldn't get back up.'

'You're unbelievable,' [y/n] laughed, shaking her head and turning to Remus. 'You didn't think of an Accio charm?'

'Heat of the moment,' Remus stated with a shrug of his shoulders and biting his nail.

'You're mad,' [y/n] sighed with a smile, then shivered. 'Could one of you close the window? It's freezing in here.'

'Or we could have a... GROUP HUG!' Sirius bellowed, tackling the other four on the sofa sending everyone into a fit of giggles.

'You're – so – childish – Padfoot!' [y/n] squealed.

'It's because we never had a childhood!'

'I – can't – breathe,' Peter wheezed.

'You're such a wimp, Wormtail,' [y/n] laughed.

    They continued to tickle and tackle each other like the mature seventeen-year-olds they were until they were stopped by a cough from the staircase to the boys' dorms.

'Excuse me,' the boy said. [y/n] recognised him as the new fifth-year Prefect. 'Could you keep the noise down a bit? There are people around here who would like to get some sleep.'

'Well, no one else seems to be complaining, so why don't you scurry off to beddy-byes,' Sirius mocked.

The fifth-year muttered something incoherent under his breath, turning away and walking up the stairs back to his dorm room.

From the corner of her eye, [y/n] saw James nudge Sirius in his side before announcing, 'I may go to bed myself, actually.'

'What's happened to you? Old age drained your energy or what?' [y/n] asked in shock.

'I guess so,' Sirius agreed. 'It's been a long day of you bullying me.'

'I've been nothing but lovely to you, Padfoot,' [y/n] stated. 'But what about you, Peter. You joining these weaklings?'

'I think I'm fi– Ooft! Actually,' Peter yawned hurriedly, 'I think I may go to bed.'

Sirius and James' glares in Peter's direction softened.

'Fine, you lazy bones. I'm staying here to read or book or something,' [y/n] declared.

'I may do that too,' Remus said.

'Well, have fun, nerds,' Sirius laughed as he made his way up the stairs with James, Peter on their tail.

'Night boys,' [y/n] called.

'Night, Paws,' the three boys replied in a chorus. 'Night, Moony.'

'G'night.'

Remus walked over to the desk and grabbed the book he was reading earlier whilst [y/n] grabbed one from the bookshelf in the corner of the common room. Eventually, she found her favourite, [your favourite book]. It was a good read and she was sure she could get through the first six or seven chapters by the time midnight came around.

'Remus, come sit over here,' [y/n] ordered gently to the boy sitting at the desk.

'All right,' he obliged, dragging his feet over to the sofa in front of the cracking fire and plopping down next to [y/n].

They curled up together and continued to read in silence for what seemed like only minutes. The fire continued to crackle and snap in the background before slowly losing it's soft orange glow as the hours went by with no new wood being added to keep it alive.

As the fire finally gave it's last hissing breath of smoke escaping up the chimney, the silence was finally broken when Remus decided to snap his book shut with a loud clap. [y/n] jumped suddenly and gasped, dropping her book and gripping Remus' arm.

'That scared me then,' [y/n] breathed.

'Sorry,' Remus apologised, 'Well, I'll probably be off to bed.'

'What time is it?' [y/n] asked with a light yawn.

'About one o'clock ,' Remus replied after glancing at the gold watch sat on his wrist.

'I'd best be off, too,' [y/n] said, closing her book and standing up from the sofa. 'Night, Remus.'

'Night, [y/n],' Remus replied at the the foot of the staircase to the boys' dorm rooms. 'See you in the morning.'

[y/n] slowly dragged herself up the spiralling staircase to the sixth floor of dorm rooms and quietly opened the door before throwing herself onto her bed.

'Finally,' Lily sighed from her bed before sitting up and reaching for something from her bedside table. 'Lumos!'

The bright white light emitted from the witch's wand and not long after, Marlene, Dorcas, Mary and Alice followed suit.

'What's this?' [y/n] asked, hiding her eyes from the light. 'An interrogation from the Aurors?'

'Not from the Aurors,' Dorcas chuckled. 'Come on, [y/n], tell us the gossip with you and Lupin.'

'There's no gossip,' [y/n] replied, yanking her pyjamas out from the bottom drawer of her bedside table. 'We just read books.'

'So you're telling me,' said Alice, 'that you stayed up until one in the morning with a boy by a fire in an empty common room and read books.'

'I call bull,' Marlene announced, lifting up a bottle of Firewhisky.

    'No, seriously,' [y/n] said, closing the curtains around her bed and slipping out of her Gryffindor robes and into her pyjamas. 'All we did was read books.'

    'She did walk up with a book in her hand,' Mary stated slowly, eyeing Marlene struggling to take the cork off the Firewhisky bottle.

'It doesn't mean that they were actually reading though, does it?' said Alice.

'I guess,' Mary muttered.

'Do we have to get Lily to whip up some Veritaserum to get the truth out of you, [y/n]?' Dorcas asked.

'No,' [y/n] said firmly, poking her head through her curtains, 'because I'm already telling you the truth.'

    'I really don't think she's lying,' Lily said. 'I mean, when you think about it, they have been like it for the past six years.'

    'You're incredibly boring, Black,' Alice sighed, flopping back onto her bed.

    'Well, I'm sorry Miss Alice I'm-dating-an-older-guy Fortescue.'

'Frank's not that much older. He only turns nineteen next month,' Alice explained as [y/n] reappeared from behind her curtains in her Gryffindor pyjamas.

'You're still luckier than all of us put together,' Dorcas huffed.

"Cept Lils," Marlene said, drunkenly pointing a finger and the redhead. 'She's had Potter pining after her for years.'

'Yeah,' Mary reinforced. 'It's your own fault you're in the same position as the rest of us, Lily.'

'Why are we turning this on me?' Lily cried. 'This interrogation was about [y/n], not James Potter's unhealthy stalking antics.'

'Deep down, we know you like him, Lily,' Alice teased.

[y/n] winked at Lily. 'You're definitely like this inside,' she said, before morphing her features to look like the Head Girl and mocking, 'Oh, I love James Potter and his athleticism and good-looks and how he's smart and funny and how he's deeply in love with me and talks about me for hours to his best friends.'

'No, no, no,' Lily protested. 'I'm not like that at all. At all. Now, let's go back to the Black and Lupin business.'

'Welp,' [y/n] exclaimed, slapping her thighs, 'that's my cue to go to sleep.'

'Already, Black?' Marlene hiccoughed and giggled. 'The party is just getting started.'

'Come on, Marl,' Lily sighed. 'Put the drink away and save it for the weekend. We have lessons tomorrow.'

'Yes, Sir, Head Girl, Sir,' Marlene laughed, saluting Lily and putting the bottle in her bedside cabinet under a pile of clothes and papers. 'I'm not drunk, mind. I only had a sip. I'm just drunk on the atmosphere.'

'Really?' [y/n] asked with furrowed eyebrows.

'Yeah,' Mary exaggerated sarcastically, nodding her head before shaking it with wide eyes, acting as though she was playing a round of charades to show that she'd finished the whole bottle.

Lily made an 'O' shape with her mouth, Alice sighed, Dorcas turned her head as though she was looking at an invisible camera on the other side of the room and [y/n] nodded her head in approval.

'There's nothing more you can say to that,' said [y/n].

'Apart from the fact she also had two bottles of Gigglewater on the train that her dad brought back from America,' Dorcas added.

'And another bottle of Firewhisky that she sneaked into her pumpkin juice at the feast,' Alice continued.

'Oh, Marlene,' Lily sighed. 'Our little partier.'

'Who's already in the land of nod,' Alice giggled. 'Like we should be.'

'Indeed,' Mary agreed, picking up her wand. 'Nox! Night, girls.'

'See you in the morning for Hell,' [y/n] said.

Dorcas, Alice and Lily all put out the lights in their wands and said they're goodnights before the five girls joined Marlene in their slumber.

i want to write a gryffindor girls fic now why do i do this to myself