Leah White

Leah and Sirius Black were now friends. Ever since that night in the kitchens, Leah had forgiven Sirius for everything. James Potter found this new friendship as a tool. Through Leah, he tried to spend more time with Lily. 

Once, Leah, Alice, Lily, Marlene and Sirius were sitting under an oak tree one day in late September, chatting and playing different games. James had tagged along, knowing Lily was there, and sat next to her throughout the whole time. Lily inched away from James and closer to Alice. 

"Okay, okay, wanna play truth or dare?" Marlene suggested, a excited gleam in her eyes.

"Ooh yes!" Alice exclaimed. "Sure," Lily said, glancing wearily at James. 

"Ok, I'll go first!" Marlene said. She looked at Alice. "Truth or dare, Ali?" 

"Totally dare, I'm a Gryffindor." Alice responded confidently. 

"Go to Severus Snape and tell him that you're in love with him." Marlene said, holding back giggles. 

"Marlene!" Alice said, taken aback. "I have a boyfriend!" 

"Which makes it an even more amazing dare," Leah said quietly. "Don't be a chicken." Lily said teasingly, and Alice stood up, determined. 

Then she ran towards Hogwarts. 

"Awesome." Marlene said cheerfully. "Now who will go?" 

"Me!" Leah said. "I'll do one for Lils!" 

Lily grinned. "Bring it on." 

"Truth or dare?" 

Lily thought for a moment. "Well, I want to play truth, but I'm a Gryffindor after all...so, dare!" 

Leah smiled. She had the perfect dare that she knew a certain someone would love. "Okay, Lily. I dare you to kiss James." Leah said, with an evil grin. 

Marlene clasped a hand to her mouth and her eyes widened. "Lils, you HAVE to do it!" 

"Nooo, why?" Lily whined, but behind that fake act, Leah could see a faint smile. 

"You chose dare." Sirius pointed out. 

Lily blushed. "I mean, I did....and I am a Gryffindor, and we never turn down a challenge..." So Lily quickly got up, pecked James on the lips, and sat back down. James looked as if his birthday and Christmas had come early. "That was awesome!" He said. 

"Ew, worst moments of my life." Lily said, pretended to throw up. 

"We all know you enjoyed it," Marlene teased. "Stop lying!" 

"What did I miss?" Came the voice of Alice. She was panting, and her cheeks were bright red. 

"Oh nothing, just that Lily kissed James," Sirius said. "I know, it's unbelievable." 

Alice let out a gasp of amusement, as Lily blushed the colour of her hair, and James grinned. "So, did you confess your fake love for Snivellus Snape?" Sirius asked Alice, and Leah, who would have normally told Sirius not to call him mean nicknames, stopped herself. She remembered how Marlene had told her that Snape had called Lily 'mudblood' the previous year, and now he was despised by the Golden Gang, as well as even more hated by the Marauders. 

Alice crinkled her nose. "As if I would ever have real feelings for that jerk." She sighed. "I merely said unemotionally that I had developed a surprising infatuation with his greasy head, then ran away, leaving him confused." 

There was a pause. 

"You- you actually said you had a surprising infatuation with his greasy head?!" James repeated. "THAT'S AMAZING, GOOD JOB!!" He jumped up and started clapping. 

"What's the matter with him?" Leah whispered to Sirius. He shrugged. "He really hates Snivellus.." 

"Oh, I get it." Leah replied, then passed on the message, seeing as her friends faces were also shocked and on the verge of laughing. 

"Marls, it's time you got a dare!" Lily said, her eyes narrowed. "I'll do it. Truth or dare?" 

Marlene crossed her arms. "Truth." 

"Who do you like?" Lily asked. Marlene thought for a while. 

"No one." Marlene responded. She sat down on their checkered picnic blanket and leaned against the trunk of the tree. Leah smiled knowingly with Alice. 

Leah laid down on the fresh green grass, letting her hair flow on it. 

"Sure, shall we get some Veritaserum?" Lily said. She was bluffing, and Leah knew that (Lily didn't have access to Veritaserum), but Marlene didn't. Marlene started sweating and she smiled. "Can  a girl not like someone, because boys are stupid?" 

The girls burst into laughter, whereas Sirius and James shouted, "Hey!" 

"I can agree with that," Leah said through giggles. "So can I!" Lily agreed, glaring at James. Alice was laughing, but she didn't agree, as she was the only one with a boyfriend, after all.

"Okay, Leah's turn!" Alice exclaimed, as she took a sip of water. "T or, D, Leah?" 

"Duh, dare!!" Leah answered, and waited for Alice to come up with a dare.

"Go up to the person you like, and tell them you like them," Alice said. 

Sirius Black

As soon as the words came out of Alice's mouth, Sirius's heart began to pound. Was Leah going to say him? Probably not, but that didn't stop Sirius from wishing. 

"Oo, good dare!" Lily said, as Leah pushed herself off the grass and walked towards Sirius. 

His heart was pounding very hard now. She was coming to him! So she did like him! Was she going to confess? She was a few feet away, and Sirius held his breath. Then....

she walked right past him, and towards the castle. So she didn't like him? Sirius's sprits fell. "Why the long face, Sirius?" Alice commented, as she saw Sirius looking longingly at Leah's retreating figure. 

"I'm fine." He said immediately, then started fidgeting with his robes.

Lily shot him a furtive look, and Sirius didn't meet her eyes. 

"Who do you think she's going to?" Marlene said. 

"A book." Alice said.

"Liam Thomas." Lily suggested.

"That Richard guy." Marlene responded.

"Snape." 

"SNAPE?!" The three girls shrieked, staring at James, who shrugged. "How am I supposed to know who she likes? For all we know, she could have eyes for Anti-Shampy." 

Sirius decided to stay out of their conversation, thinking to himself about who Leah liked. If she liked him, he obviously wasn't going to pry, but he was going to see what qualities that guy had that made him so likeable, and steal it to use his charm on other girls. (And maybe Leah, said an excited voice at the back of his head)

"It's not Snape," Alice said, making a thumbs down motion. She sat criss-crossed on the picnic blanket, grabbed her water and straw, and sucked on the water while her arms were crossed, as if proving her point. 

James looked to Sirius. "What about you, Pads? She's your girlfriend, you should know." 

Sirius blushed. Leah's three friends glared at him with evil eyes. 

"What did you just say?!" Alice shrieked. 

"You really don't know when to shut up, James." Sirius muttered under his breath. He was about to face the wrath of the Golden Gang, once again. 

"She's not your girlfriend!" Marlene said, outraged. 

"She hated you until a few days ago!" Lily added. 

"She's not my girlfriend! She's my friend!" Sirius said. He tried to think of a backup argument, when James said, "Oh snap! Someone got friend-zoned!" 

Suddenly, the tense aura faded as the girls started to laugh. 

"Ha! As if! We were just kidding you, Mr. Heartbreak." Alice said, putting her drink down. 

"But now we know you like her." Lily said, a mischievous smile on her face. "What?" Sirius said in fake disbelief. "No, she's my friend..." 

"We know, idiot. Because Mr Lily Lover over there clearly stated that you got friend-zoned." Marlene nodded towards James, who was now watching two butterflies over head with great interest. 

"JA-" Sirius began to shout, but then stopped with they saw Leah running up the hill. 

"Guys-" She stopped to breath. "I- did it!" 

"Who?!" They five of them said, leaning forward. 

Sirius's ears were strained and he wanted to make sure he got the name of this person very clearly. 

Leah held up a book. 

Lily and Marlene groaned as Alice jumped up and down excitedly, as her prediction was correct. 

Sirius was extremely relieved; it wasn't a person after all!! He squinted to read the book title. 

"The World of Stories?" Sirius read. Leah nodded, as she gingerly set the book down on the blanket. "My most favourite book ever. It's seriously the best. This is the copy- that- well, my dad gave to me seven years ago." 

There was a sad pause. 

"Anyways, I told it that I loved it so much, and that I could never live without it," Leah said, a different meaning in her eyes. 

Sirius suspected that Leah really meant that she loved her father so much, seeing as he was the one who gave it to her, and that she would never forget him. 

Sirius left with James to the Gryffindor common room that afternoon, both happy and a strange feeling of sad mingling in his stomach. 

Hey guys! So here's the new update for this book, I know I haven't updated in a while, sorry about that! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was so much fun to write! Me and Leah are the same; our love is in books lmao. 

Thanks for reading! 

- Isa❤️