Disclaimer: The OC's and parts of the plot are all I own. The story title belongs to Taylor Swift and everything else is J.K Rowling's. Thank you for reading.
"I don't understand what this whole Easter thing is about" Nathaniel stated, squeezing Coralie's side softly as Mary tried to explain what she, Cory, Alice and Sarah had been trying to plan for everyone all week.
"Maybe if you paid attention and stopped fondling Bennett then you'd understand" Sirius spat, Nathaniel went to respond but Coralie shot him a look. He seemed to understand though Coralie had still not told her what she had done; she doubted that he would really care as long as she was okay.
"Anyway, we hid little chocolate eggs on the grounds and you all need to find as many as you can" Mary said softly as Sirius glared over at Coralie and Nathaniel, who just to annoy him further bought Coralie closer and kissed her lips softly.
"You ready beautiful?" Coralie didn't respond but nodded softly, pulling Nathaniel away by his hand before he could start something with Sirius. "Prat" He muttered, glaring back at him.
"Don't" Coralie whispered and let go of his wrist before grabbing a basket from Alice and walking off. She wasn't in the mood at all for an 'Easter Egg Hunt' as Cory had dubbed it. She had planned on spending the day inside, getting ready for N.E.W.T's as they were fast approaching. Her friends however had very different plans.
She knew a few of the others didn't really want to be there either, Nathaniel most definitely would have preferred to keep his distance from the Marauders until graduation came around just as the Marauders wanted to avoid him. Lily and James had gotten together during the week much to all the girl's delights and Coralie got the feeling they'd rather be alone to talk, or not.
Remus and Peter hadn’t even shown up though James had explained that Remus had returned to take care of his sick mother for the weekend and would return on Monday, Peter was simply feeling a little under the weather apparently.
Kiki was by far the grumpiest on that particular day, Coralie almost wanted to ask what was wrong but she'd seen how protective her friend could get. She didn't really want her head to be bitten off. Weirdly enough, Coralie didn't even need to bother- by the time she'd found four measly eggs and had given up; Kiki had come to join her by a tree.
"Boys suck" She said simply without even looking over at Coralie who frowned slightly but didn't say anything in response. "I know you've got Peakes so you probably don't see it, but it's true"
"Nate isn't perfect" Kiki snapped her head around at this and furrowed her eyebrows before letting out a groan.
"I wish all the prats in the world would just jump off a bridge or something" She stated, picking a leaf off the ground and tearing it into tiny pieces.
"Are you alright?" Coralie asked worriedly, placing her hand on Kiki's arm- her friend just turned to glare at her.
"Of course I'm not" She snapped, causing Coralie to pull her arm back out of fear. She'd never seen her friend act so odd. Then again, everyone had been acting odd lately. Coralie wasn't sure whether it was due to N.E.W.T's or the fact that within a few short months they would all be finished at Hogwarts for good and would be sent out into the real world. The real world where a war was brewing.
Coralie was scared, she could hardly imagine what the others were feeling- especially the ones who had been directly affected, like James and Nathaniel. Coralie didn't even want to think about what Nathaniel might do to certain people if he was given the chance.
"Are you scared about leaving?" Coralie whispered and Kiki sighed and shook her head like she was annoyed with Coralie for even thinking lowly of her.
"Don't be stupid. I'll be glad to get out of here and away from everyone" Coralie sighed at this, deciding to give up on trying to calm her friend down in absolutely any way or even to try and coax her into talking- clearly it wasn't working. Besides when Kiki didn't want to do something, she usually got her way.
The pair fell into a silence, the only noise audible seemed to be rustling in trees and the occasional footsteps as their friends ran past. Everyone seemed to be enjoy the egg hunt bar the two of them despite the fact it was starting to get dark, it was almost impossible to see anything that wasn't lit by the moon. This kind of upset Coralie more than she had thought it would, she wanted to be able to have fun and run around like a little girl for a few hours. Something was holding her back though.
Despite knowing it wasn't the cause of her lack of excitement, the egg hunt reminded her of her father and for once she actually wished he was there with her. He had always loved chocolate and would sometimes even create similar hunts inside the house for Coralie and her siblings.
Angus had always been the best at finding them, he had a knack for noticing things that most people didn't and he was still small at the time. Jacob had accused him of cheating a couple of times. Whether that was true or not, they'd probably never find out at least Angus wouldn't willingly admit to it in this lifetime.
Coralie was about to stand up and head back to the Common Room, fully prepared to just sit around and laugh with Angus for a while about their childhood memories. There was nothing she had wanted to do more at that moment but an ear-pitching scream had cut her off.
"What the?" Kiki exclaimed, but Coralie had already discarded her basket and was searching desperately for one of her friends while Kiki stood by and did nothing.
It felt like forever for Coralie until she noticed Nathaniel making his way out of a bunch trees a little higher up the hill than her. He seemed to notice her at the exact time and was just as relieved to see her, only for different reasons. It hadn't even crossed her mind that Nathaniel might have thought it was her.
"Thank Merlin" He whispered, wrapping his arms around her as tight as possible and placing a kiss on top of her head. She wasn't entirely sure why but before she knew it Coralie was hugging him tighter than she had previously thought was possible for her and was quietly crying into his chest. He didn't say anything and only held her tighter.
"Who was that?" James appeared, out of breath with Lily following closely behind. The latter took one look at Coralie and was by her side, whispering her that it would be alright though Lily also looked like she'd be sobbing. "Lils, stay her with Cors and Nate and I will go look"
"I'm not leaving Cora here in the dark" Nathaniel stated, squeezing his girlfriend's shoulder tightly as if to remind her that he wasn't going anywhere.
"Alright, all four of us will walk together" James agreed, bringing Lily to his side and rubbing her back while she brushed away her own tears.
"Who are we missing?" Nathaniel asked, "Sarah and Tyler will most likely be together and I'm not sure Sarah could scream that loud or that high-pitched"
"Tyler on the other hand" Coralie added between deep breaths, Nathaniel smiled brightly at her and despite the situation she found herself grinning back. "But really, I was with Kiki so she's fine, she headed back to the Common Room pretty quick. We're missing Mary, Cory, Marlene, Alice, Miranda, Sarah, Tyler and Sirius" The four of them sighed and picked up a quicker pace, in hope they would find the others before it was far too dark to even see.
In the space of roughly ten minutes, by which time everyone had their wands out with ‘Lumos’ cast to help them along the way- they’d found Sirius, Mary and Cory who were conducting a similar search as they were.
“Enjoyed being with the love birds?” Coralie heard James tease, Sirius only grunted in response and sent a glare at her when he caught her looking- she quickly diverting her eyes noticing an Easter egg that no one had found on the ground, Nathaniel seemed to notice it too and handed it over to her with a smile.
“You okay?” He whispered and she nodded though they both knew that was lie. They were both worrying about Sarah and Tyler, despite what Nathaniel said and how he sometimes acted, he valued both of their friendships not that he would ever admit that to Tyler’s face.
“Tyler?” Coralie whispered as the boy in question appeared from behind a tree which caused everyone to stop.
“Hey, Sarah’s got her foot caught in a hole” He said so seriously and calmly that everyone stare at him for a couple minutes while they wondered who he was. “Well come on, before the sun comes up”
“Was Sarah the one who screamed?” Lily asked as they followed Tyler down the hill a little, he shook his head.
“She slipped because of the scream” Beside Coralie, Nathaniel let out a little snort but covered it up quickly with a cough. Tyler sent him a look but smiled a little himself.
“About time Tyler,” Sarah sighed when she finally came into view of everyone, “I thought you’d finally gone mad and was planning on leaving me here until I died.”
“Not yet” Tyler replied with a chuckle, leaving Nathaniel to pull her out of the hole and set her back on the ground.
“Well I’m glad” Sarah responded quickly, “Who screamed?”
“Not sure yet” James replied with a frown as they all continued on.
Everyone was beginning to get cold and even more worried when there was another scream, not as loud as the last but loud enough to get everyone running.
And there, in front of the Whomping Willow stood Marlene with tears streaming down her face at an incredible speed.
Everyone stopped.
“We don’t know what happened,” Marlene explained between sobs, she moved slightly to the side so that everyone could see the body in behind her, “It’s Miranda”
Authors Note: Dun, Dun, Da! Finally, a let more action for you guys and I promise from here until the last chapters, It's going to be a wild ride so hold on tight! On that note, I will see you Friday with Chapter 52!
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