Lily's first patrol filling in for Frank had arrived and boy was she cursing his absence. Not only did this cut into her own social and academic time, but she had to spend it with Hayley.

Hayley would act all nice and sweet with a sugary toned voice, but in the next minute she was trying to cheat off your exam or steal your boyfriend. She hadn't done anything to warrant this dislike from Lily personally, but she did from Marlene.

Marlene had made sure to relive what Hayley had done to her in their fourth-year at least thirty times by the time Lily had made it out of the dormitory. Distant shouts that told a tale of bribery and betrayal could be heard all the way in the common room. Marlene got really worked up about what Hayley had done and it showed.

Lily yawned and put her hair in a messy bun as she exited the Fat Lady. She was still in the white button down shirt and grey skirt of the Hogwarts uniform, but had ditched the tie a long time ago. Comfort was her number one priority while doing something she didn't want to, so when she saw Hayley in her non wrinkled, perfectly tied tie, she wondered how someone could do that to themselves.

"Hey Lily!" There was the fake, sugary-toned voice. "How are you on this fine, fine night?"

"Great. How might you be?" As Lily yawned sarcasm dripped off of her entire statement.

"Brilliant! The moon seems even brighter than usual and you can see about a trillion stars!" Lily hummed in agreement because you really could about a trillion stars, but she was not particularly enthusiastic about spending her last night in Hogwarts patrolling. So, she didn't say a word.

It continued like that for a while, Hayley would try to engage Lily in conversation, but Lily wouldn't reply with anything worth while. Eventually, Hayley took the hint and shut up.

Lily didn't see why she had to help Hayley. Every broom cupboard was empty, no kids were out of bed and they had seen at least half of the professors walking the corridors. It's not like anything bad would've happened to Hayley if she had gone alone.

Even with those thoughts in her head, Lily patrolled on knowing that there was worse things that could happen. She could be forced to scoop dragon dung with Hagrid or she could have to pet sit Mrs. Norris. Dumbledore could make any of those things happen with a snap of his fingers, so she thought it would be wise to just continue on.

"Why don't you like me?" Her voice held more authority than earlier, which startled Lily, but before she could speak Hayley kept asking questions. "Is it because I like James? Because if so, then I'm sorry for my feelings."

Lily scoffed. "Merlin no! James has nothing to do with this. I don't like you for different reasons! Why did you even choose me to be your patrol partner?"

"Are you sure? Because Beth told me the other day that you were practically in love with him!"

Her eyes widened, love is a very strong word and she wasn't sure she wanted to use it. How did Elizabeth even know about her crush on James?

"Oh, love, don't look so surprised! We all see the way you look at him! I mean it's surprising he hasn't noticed, but lucky for you he's oblivious!" Hayley bumped shoulders with Lily who still hadn't said a word.

"L-look at him? How do I look at him?" Hayley laughed.

"Oh, you're not joking. With those doe eyes of yours! It's no wonder how many blokes have a crush on you!"

"What the hell?" Lily muttered under her breath, flushing slightly at the words that were being spoken by a person she didn't like.

...

James and Sirius had found their way into the Kitchens after Remus had kicked them out in order to study. They didn't understand what he was so worried about, there were still like two months until end of year exams.

"Pads, what would you do if I cut your hair for a prank?"

"Probably never talk to you again," Sirius joked.

He used to hate holiday breaks. Having to go home to Walburga and Orion is a tall order, especially being in Gryffindor. Being the family disappointment was easy in the Black family if you actually cared about other people.

Things had only gotten better when he ran away to James's house. Euphemia and Fleamont had loved him ever since the first time he stepped into their house in third-year, but actually living with them was different. The love and acceptance he got, was astronomical. Sirius thought that there was way too much of it.

"Do you hear that?"

There were faint sounds of foot steps and people talking. Wordlessly, James pulled out the invisibility cloak and concealed the two of them. Their feet and ankles weren't covered by the cloak so James pulled them both to the ground.

It wasn't anything to worry about though because it was just Lily and Hayley finishing their rounds. Before Lily left to go to the Gryffindor tower, Hayley whispered something in her ear, causing her to blush. This piqued the two boys' interest and they simply could not wait to jump out from underneath the cloak.

"Alright there Evans?" Lily sighed knowing who's voice that was right away.

"She is so bloody annoying. I swear everything she talks about is about blokes or proper flirting techniques! Someone siriusly needs to tell her to stop. I'm never patrolling with her ever again."

She didn't even stop to question the fact that they were out of their beds past curfew, that was something she learned early on. Perhaps, asking them would end up in them asking you otherwise personal questions, which you didn't want from them. Sometimes Sirius and James has no boundaries.

"Fancy a snack from the Kitchens?" Sirius asked her this time.

"Oh what the hell, why not?"

...

Author's Note:

So yeah, this one was shorter, but I needed a ✨filler chapter✨ There's not much else to say...

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy⛄️