CHAPTER FIVE! ༉‧₊˚✧
━━━━ ⋆𖤐₊˚.༄ ♡ ━━━━

LILY EVANS DOES NOT LIKE JAMES POTTER.

As she sat on the couch in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room, the only thoughts running through her mind were ways to curse the boy who continued to ruffle his hair to impress people.

As Lily continued to stare at the boy, taking in everything she hated about him, she couldn't stop herself before she blurted out a sentence.

"You're so annoying," She said, her words aimed at James.

James removed his hand from his head, where it had previously been ruffling his hair, "I didn't even say anything!"

Realizing that there was nothing that could've prompted that announcement, Lily struggled to find a rebuttal. "Your face is just annoying."

Lily watched as James opened his mouth, probably for an annoying comeback, but was distracted by the laughter coming from the portrait hole.

After what seemed like an eternity, Diya had finally come back, as well as Remus and Sirius, all of them keeling over in laughter, using the walls to support themselves.

Marlene spoke up, a smile playing on her lips, "What's so funny?"

Sirius began waving his hands in an attempt to compose himself, "We got kicked out of the library!"

Peter tilted his head in confusion, "What's so funny about that? You get kicked out all the time, Sirius."

Sirius raised his hands in mock surrender, "It wasn't my fault this time!"

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Di, really?"

"Hey, it wasn't just my fault! R.J.'s laugh set me off." Diya finally got a hold of her laughter after the three began laughing over the events in the library in the hallway.

Remus grinned and bowed, "Guilty."

"Well, sit down! We've only been waiting for you three for hours." James said, patting the spot next to him for one of them to take.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other before simultaneously sprinting for the spot, with Sirius ending up in James's lap and Remus faceplanting behind the couch.

"Ha! I win," Sirius shouted as Remus groaned, pulling himself up. When he saw James's embarrassed face. He blew James a kiss before getting off of his lap.

Diya let out a laugh when she saw James violently wiping his face to get rid of anything Sirius could've left behind. Diya placed a kiss on Lily's forehead as she sat down, dusting herself off in her seat.

"So, what did we miss?"

༉‧₊˚✧

Marlene McKinnon was wasted.

Somehow, she had gotten ahold of a few bottles of firewhiskey and hid them in her trunk. At least now, the evidence was destroyed since the bottles had been passed around the circle of friends.

Almost all of them were wasted, except for Sirius, Remus, Diya, and Lily. Sirius and Diya hadn't had enough to get drunk while Remus and Lily had simply decided not to drink.

"Alright," James said slowly, trying not to slur his words (probably so Lily wouldn't see him drunk). "What are everyone's plans for the week?"

Lily laughed out, covering her mouth. "Nearly everyone in this circle is plastered, and your first question is, 'What are everyone's plans for the weekend?'. Is playing truth or dare too immature for you?"

Lily hadn't seen Remus and Diya motioning for her to stay silent about the game.

Sirius tilted his head, "Truth or dare?"

Remus cleared his throat, finally gaining the attention of Lily. He wildly waved his hands while shaking his head, and thankfully Lily understood.

"Uhh, nevermind," Lily said to Sirius, instead deciding to turn to Diya, "I think I'm planning Diya's birthday pretty much the entire time."

Diya threw her head back in frustration, "Lily, I love you, but I seriously don't want to celebrate my birthday this year."

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but Diya covered the girl's mouth with her hand.

"I personally will be spending the weekend and my birthday," She turned to Lily, who was currently talking against her hand, "mentally preparing myself to spend the 3rd with Patil."

Sirius snorted, "Good luck with that. From what I saw earlier, you two are gonna tear each other's heads off."

Lily finally wiggled her way out of Diya's grasp, "You ran into Rahul?"

Alice picked her head up from Frank's chest, who was unconscious on the couch. "Oh, what happened?"

"Nothing, he was an arse, just like he always is." Diya rolled her eyes at the thought of the boy.

"I always saw him as more of a Slytherin than a Gryffindor," Marlene drawled, staring directly into the fire as she twirled a strand of her hair.

Diya hummed in agreeance as the bottle made its way back to her. She took a swig quickly, surprising Sirius when she barely grimaced.

Sirius put his chin in his hand as he balanced it on his knee, looking at Diya intensely, "Why do you have to spend time with Patil, if you hate him, anyway?"

"It's Diwali that day, and our parents spend money every year to let the teachers allow us to float diyas in the Black Lake." A voice chimed from behind the circle of kids. Diya turned in her seat to see a pajama-clad Zoya, her arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

"Float Diya? What do you mean 'float Diya'?" Peter slurred, lifting his head slightly off of the pillow. He had been the first one to get drunk only after a few sips.

"Not me," Diya started before getting interrupted by Zoya. "They're like little lamps, kind of."

"Have you been drinking, Diya?" The elder sister asked, walking toward the circle of kids menacingly.

Lily quickly hid the bottle on her lap, thankful for the blanket that Frank had given her for her birthday last year. She smiled innocently at Zoya, who rolled her eyes in return.

"I'm sober, Zoya, don't worry." Diya technically wasn't lying. She was pretty sober even though she had been drinking, but her sister didn't have to know that.

Zoya nodded, satisfied, "Besides, if you're going to drink, you should probably save it for when you have to spend time with Rahul."

Diya smiled up at her sister, who winked in return. Diya truly never knew how a conversation with Zoya would go. If Zoya had received a letter from their parents recently, she would be on edge and morally strict. But when she was already happy, her conversations with Diya were mostly playful.

"Anyway, you guys should probably go to sleep soon. I would hate for another prefect to find you."

James popped his head up now, still slurring his words, "We have our two prefects right here!"

He had meant to motion to Lily and Remus but instead whacked Frank's legs, laughing as the disoriented boy briefly woke up to check his surroundings. 

Zoya nodded, smiling to herself, "Right..."

Diya waved to her sister as she began to retreat back to the sixth year dorms. "Goodnight, Zoya!"

"Goodnight."

"Alright, now that that's over, I think that we should plan Padfoot's birthday." James began, rubbing his hands together. "It should be a surprise!"

Sirius tapped James on the shoulder, "Prongs, I'm right here."

"Sirius! Don't tell Pads. It's a surprise," James whispered to Sirius, who laughed and nodded, promising not to tell.

The group's attention was drawn away from James poking Sirius's face in analyzation by a thump! that came from behind the couch.  Peter had rolled off in his drunken state and was now moaning on the floor in pain.

"Well, looks like that's our queue," Lily slapped her hands on her legs before standing up, pulling Diya with her. "Remus, Sirius, we should probably get all of these knackered fools to their dorms. You guys should take the guys up, and Diya and I will take Alice and Marlene. I doubt you'd be able to help—the stairs would just turn into a slide."

Sirius muttered something about stupid sexist stairs before nodding to Remus and walking over to Peter. The two began to hoist him up by his limbs, stumbling as Peter was totally limp, not cooperating at all.

Marlene was much more manageable for Diya to carry (she had simply given the girl a piggyback ride to their dorm), and Lily had simply walked Alice to the dorms.

Lily collapsed on her bed, sighing in relief as her back hit the soft mattress. She had just gotten comfortable when her eyes widened, and she shot up, looking at Diya with pleading eyes.

"Diya, can you please go clean the—"

Diya smiled and walked back over to the door after plopping Marlene on her own bed. "Already on it, Lil."

She left the dorms, softly closing the door behind her to not wake any other students. She descended the stairs that led to the Common Room, running a hand through her hair. She felt relaxed and enjoyed the feeling very much.

Diya suddenly paused in her tracks when she heard ruffling coming from the Common Room.

She tiptoed the rest of the way, careful not to alert whoever was in the Common Room to her presence.

"Talwar, I can hear you coming. It's only me."

Diya sighed in relief, jogging to the boy who was cleaning the mess that the group had left behind.

"I didn't know who was down here, Black. I'm only trying to be careful." Diya shrugged, picking up the discarded bottles of firewhiskey and placing them in the trash bag that Sirius had conjured.

"You're not exactly stealthy. I could hear you coming down the stairs." Sirius laughed, nudging the girl lightly with his shoulder.

Diya picked a pillow up from the couch and whacked him over the head with it.

"Ow! It's not my fault that your anklets are loud as hell." Sirius rubbed his head lightly.

Diya laughed, rather loudly, considering it was late in the night. She quieted herself down and continued to pick up the trash in silence, sneaking glances at the boy who was silently cleaning the mess.

When the two had finally finished cleaning, they bid each other goodnight, nodding to each other before heading to their respective dorms and falling into a peaceful sleep.

༉‧₊˚✧

The next morning was an eventful one for Diya. She had woken up with a slight headache, no doubt from staying up as late as she did. Given that it was a weekend, she wasn't too worried. At least until she checked the time and realized how late she was to get to the library. It was now half-past 8 in the morning, and she had promised to meet with someone at 8:15.

Since Diya had taken a break from tutoring, only continuing to tutor those she had become close with, she took those very few sessions very seriously and made sure not to miss them.

Rubbing her eyes and quickly getting dressed, she tried her hardest to quietly tiptoe out of the dorms, not wanting to wake any of the surely hungover girls. Plus, she'd rather not have them talk about how she was "breaking their pact" since she hadn't told them that she was still meeting with a few people.

She tiptoed down the stairs, wincing every time her anklets made a noise. She kept forgetting to take them off when she was trying to be stealthy, and she mentally wrote herself a note to do so in the future.

Once she was sure the coast was clear, she left the Common Room (after a greeting was sent to the Fat Lady) and began to run to the library.

For once in her life, Diya found herself thankful for the pure laziness of the students at Hogwarts, because didn't she run into a single student in the hallway that might question why she was running, her clothes askew and hair a mess.

She slowed down as she neared the library, not wanting to upset Madam Pince any more than she did the day before. She tried her best to flatten down her hair as she sped through the library, making her way toward the very back of the library, usually bare of students (especially on the weekend). She threw a quick smile at Madam Pince on the way there, knowing that the woman's perception of her had changed.

As she continued to flatten her hair, looking in the passing windows to check her appearances, she failed to perceive someone coming up behind her.

Diya let out a quiet shriek as someone pulled her in between two rows of books, but she was quickly silenced by a large hand.

"Shh! Are you trying to get us caught?"

Diya gently pried his hand off of her mouth, sheepishly smiling up at the boy. Despite being younger than her, he already towered over her, something that she figured was hereditary.

"Sorry I'm late, Reg. I was sleeping in," Diya admitted sheepishly, whispering so that no one would realize that the two were meeting up.

If anyone caught wind of Regulus Black being friends with Diya Talwar, a Gryffindor and best friend to a muggle-born, his parents would find out, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

"It's fine, Diya, just keep it down so that no one sees us." Regulus took the time to look around, making sure that no one was able to see them.

"When have I ever let you down, Reggie?"

༉‧₊˚✧

IM BACK WITH AN UPDATE BC liaskisses KEPT PRESSURING ME 😭😭
anyway chile SURPRISE
REGGIES HERE I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

i WAS thinking about completely rewriting chapter one bc i hate it so much but whatever y'all can deal ❤️

anyway i love it when y'all comment bc it makes me so motivated to update so CONTINUE DOING THAT

i also just hit 700 followers AND 700 reads which is WILD WHAT THE HELL THANK YOU ALL

anyway i'll be back with another update soon! thank you all so much for reading ✨