A/N: I wrote this one a little differently than my usual stuff. Meaning I'm switching pov's every now and then. It was just a little experiment, but I liked it. And I hope you do as well. –Mara.
Dedication: To all my loyal reviewers on My Everlasting Love. You guys totally rock!
Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Sirius Black or any of the other Marauders and Lily. Mary and Brice on the other hand, now that's a different story…
CHANGE
"Mary, it's almost a quarter past ten. You're gonna be late."
"Alright!"
"I mean it, you'll miss the train!"
"Mum, I know!" Mary shouted back.
She rolled her eyes at her mother's impatience and decided to focus on getting her trunk out of her bedroom instead. Somewhere in the process part of it got stuck behind her doorpost and she had been pulling and pushing it for the last ten minutes, but the bloody thing had not moved an inch. Mary felt tempted to draw her wand, but she knew she wasn't allowed to perform magic outside of school. She was about to start her fourth year at Hogwarts. At least, she was if she wouldn't miss the train that had been scheduled to leave in thirty minutes. "Come orrrn," she growled and thrust her full weight against the trunk. Nothing happened. Mary cursed and was about to kick it hard when she heard someone chuckling behind her. She wheeled around. "Jenna!"
Her younger sister was leaning against the doorpost of her bedroom. "Having fun?"
Mary glared at her. "Get that smirk off your face and help me to get this thing out of here."
"Sure," Jenna replied, walking over. "But only because you're asking so nicely."
Together they managed to get the trunk out of Mary's bedroom. They pushed it down the stairs and put it next to the front door before they finally made their way over to the kitchen. The cage with Coco, Mary's pet, stood on the kitchen sink, ready to join her on the Hogwarts Express. Mary's father watched his daughter greeting her cat and he put his copy of The Independent down on the table. "You have no idea how long it took me to get Coco in there. And look," he showed her his heavily lashed arms and hands. "She got me pretty bad a few times."
"I'm sorry, dad," Mary replied as she chewed on a piece of toast and put an arm around his shoulder to kiss his cheek at the same time. "But you know Coco hates men. You should have left her to me."
"Then you definitely would have missed the train," her mother said as she put down a glass of milk in front of her. "Just drink that up and go."
Mary nodded and quickly downed the milk after swallowing her final bite of toast. "Let's go!"
She hugged her sister and mother goodbye while her father was loading her luggage in his car. "Behave yourself, alright?" the latter said while putting her hands on Mary's shoulders.
"Mum, have I ever misbehaved myself at school?"
Her mother smiled. "No, but now is not the time to break that pattern."
"Don't worry, I won't. Bye Jenna," Mary said as she swung her bag over her shoulder and hurried over to the car.
Her father drove as fast as he could and in the end, they walked onto platforms 9 and 10 around ten minutes to eleven. "Right," he father said as they reached the pillar that would lead to platform 9 ¾. "Think you can take it from here?"
Mary took the trolley with her trunk and Coco's cage from him. "Yeah, thanks."
He hugged her close for a moment. "Just keep out of trouble, alright?"
She shot him a surprised look. "Why is everyone thinking that I'm going to cause trouble at school?"
Her father laughed and stepped back. "I'm not. Not really, at least. It's just that you're about to start your fourth year… You're no longer my little girl, you know? Just be careful and know that your mother and I are watching you."
He gave her a tiny wink and Mary rolled her eyes. "Bye, dad."
She started running as she pushed the trolley towards the pillar. Meanwhile she wondered what her dad meant when he said that she wasn't his little girl anymore. She was still only fourteen years old… "One thing's for sure," she thought while she passed the border onto platform 9 ¾. "This was going to be an interesting year…"
"Hey Sirius, don't you think we should go like… right now?"
A handsome guy with shiny black hair and intense grey eyes was leaning against a pillar on platform 9 ¾. He and his friends were about to get started on their fourth year at Hogwarts. Another year meant a whole dozen new possibilities to conquer as many hearts of female Hogwarts students as possible. Sirius had discovered that most girls, both younger and older, fancied him halfway his second year and he had been shamelessly taking advantage of his looks ever since. It was his ultimate goal to beat Randall McCormack's record by the time he reached fifth year.
And that was going pretty well. Randall, a fifth-year with dark blonde hair and lightbrown eyes was the keeper of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and had dated approximately forty girls. So far, Sirius had managed to snog around thirty-two girls, which meant that this year he had to date eight girls. At least… Which explained why he was currently smiling at Nina Twycross, standing on the other side of the platform. She was occasionally looking back at him, so he didn't hear his friend calling him at first.
"Sirius!"
A hard nudge in the ribs finally made him look around. "What?"
"Get your stuff. We're gonna hop onto the Express," James said.
"It's almost eleven," Peter chimed in.
"And Nina has already boarded the train," Remus added with twinkling eyes and a grin on his face, making Sirius realize that his ever-observing friend knew exactly what he was up to.
"Alright, alright, let's go," Sirius replied laughing, rolling his eyes. "But as if that train would ever leave without us! Besides, there are still plenty of people on the platform, so I honestly don't think that-"
He stopped talking mid-sentence when his eyes fell on a familiar silhouette that was approaching them. It took him another moment to realize that the strikingly beautiful young woman hurrying towards them was no other than Mary Woods, one his female Gryffindor classmates. His jaw literally dropped to his knees. He had always thought of her as a somewhat pretty, but mostly skinny and snobby girl that spent more time in the library for her own good. But she had grown tall over the Summer, her hair seemed a lot shinier and most importantly: her body had developed certain curves which – and Sirius was pretty sure about that – hadn't been there at the end of last year. In short: she looked downright hot. If only her personality would be just as nice… Sirius didn't exactly hate Mary, but disliked her, and her best friend Lily Evans (who was just as snobby) a great deal.
The feeling was completely mutual, as Mary strongly disapproved of his attitude towards girls and couldn't stand the fact that Gryffindor often lost points because of his behaviour. But Sirius wasn't alone in that, as there were three other Marauders. The hypocrisy of it all was that Mary didn't dislike them at all. In fact, she was best friends with James, who was now walking over to her to help getting her trunk on the train. "Phew Mary, you shouldn't have come about a minute later."
"Tell me about it," Mary replied, wiping her brow with her sleeve before she handed Coco's cage to James who was standing in doorway. "My trunk got stuck behind my bedroom door."
"What?" Remus asked, shooting her a curious look as he walked over to her.
"Hi Remus," she smiled. "Ehm… Well, it's a long story."
"Come on," James said as he leaned out of the train, holding out his arm to her.
Mary took his offered hand and he pulled her onboard. The only students left on the platform now were Sirius and Peter. "You coming, mate?" his tiny friend asked as he climbed onto the train.
Sirius shot him a stunned look. "Are you guys blind?"
"Come again?" Peter asked, looking puzzled.
"Woods! Has none noticed how… how… different she looks?"
"Well," his friend replied after a thoughtful pause. "Her hair seems to have grown a lot over the Summer. Looks good on her, I think."
Sirius looked astonished. "That's what you've been staring at?"
"Er… yes."
"Merlin's Beard, Peter. You should ask James to let him borrow you his glasses once in a while."
"Sirius," Remus interrupted as he poked his head out of the train. "Are you get in here at all or do you prefer walking all the way to Hogwarts?"
"Crap!" Sirius called when he noticed that several of the train doors were slamming shut by themselves. He quickly jumped in and followed Remus and Peter to a compartment ahead that James had managed to confiscate just for the four of them. "James," Sirius said as soon as he had entered the carriage. "Please tell you did notice Woods having developed certain eh… assets over the Summer?"
His best friend looked up from sorting his cards of Exploding Snap. "Oh yeah, definitely," he grinned sheepishly and Sirius heaved a relieved sigh. "Mary sure looks beautiful. But then again, she always does."
"Not quite. She used to be eager, skinny and snobby. Now she's eager, snobby and… Merlin, how I hate to admit this… stunning."
Remus shot him a close look over the edge of his book. "Does that mean Nina Twycross is no longer on your "to do"-list?"
Sirius snorted. "No way, she was practically drooling over me earlier. Did you notice?"
"I did. I'm not saying you shouldn't go for her. But I do think Mary may be out of your league, mate."
Sirius arched his eyebrows, almost feeling insulted by his friend's remark. "Are you serious?"
"Actually, Remus is not that far off," James observed. "Mary hates your guts. You know that."
"Indeed," Sirius nodded earnestly. "Which will make this all the more interesting to me. If I can make Woods fall in love with me…" He sighed dreamily. "She would be the crown jewel to my already extensive collection."
Peter laughed. "You're too arrogant for your own good."
Sirius winked at him. "There's nothing wrong with being confident, Pete."
James grinned. "Hmm, I still think Mary is going to eat you alive, but let's find out, shall we? I was planning to pay Evans a visit anyway."
Sirius jumped up from the couch. "Let's go right now. You guys coming along as well?"
"Thanks," Remus replied. "But I think I'll pass. Peter, up for a game of Exploding Snap?"
"Cool," Peter nodded as he watched the others walking away.
"It was so weird," Mary said as she nibbled on a Sugarquill. "Everybody, and I mean everybody was watching me when I walked on the platform."
"Well, you were kind of late," Lily replied absent-mindedly while she was putting her shoulderlength auburn hair in a loose bun. "Hmm, I wonder if I could visit Sev without running into Potter and his cronies or the Slytherins…"
Mary frowned. She knew Lily was good friends with Severus Snape, but couldn't really understand why. He wasn't a very nice boy, knew more dark curses than all of them together. Not to mention that he was in Slytherin. But after another moment of silence, Mary decided to ignore Lily's last comment. "Yeah, but still… I was not the only one being late. I mean, my shirt hadn't gotten stuck in my skirt or anything, had it?"
Brice snorted. "That would have been hilarious, but sadly: no. Honestly Mary, do you really want me to spell it out for you?"
"Please do, because I don't get it."
Her friend shook her blonde hair over her shoulders and leaned in a little closer. "You've changed quite a bit over the Summer. You're no longer lanky and… and awkward, but slim and curvy. So of course you'll get noticed by everyone. The girls are watching you because they're jealous and the guys check you out for… Well, obvious reasons."
Mary looked stunned. "I haven't changed that much."
Lily narrowed her eyes slightly to shoot her a close look. "No, but there is something different about you."
"James didn't mention anything about it."
"Of course not," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Potter is an ignorant git who only has eyes for mischief, Quidditch,-"
"-You," Mary and Brice finished simultaneously, making them all laugh.
"Good morning, ladies," James announced loudly as he opened the door of their compartment.
"Speak of the devil," Lily muttered darkly.
Brice, being the impartial one of them, waved and Mary smiled. "Hi James."
But her smile slowly faded off her face when she noticed he had not come alone. None other than Sirius Black stepped inside. Mary rolled her eyes and, deciding to ignore him as well as James trying to ask Lily out, focused on her book (Standard Book of Spells, Level Four) instead. However, when Sirius flopped down right next to her, she was forced to look up after all. "What are you doing?"
"Accompanying James," he replied, cocking his head over at his friend desperately trying to explain to Lily that he just wanted to take her out on one date, nothing more.
Mary shook her head with a look of disbelief on her face and watched James hitting on her best friend, who was looking more vexed by the minute. She loved James, she really did, but he didn't know a thing about girls. She exchanged a dark look with Brice, who was having trouble to keep a straight face while she pretended to read the Daily Prophet, before she looked back at Sirius who was still smiling at her. An incredibly dazzling smile, she was forced to admit. "Well," she said shortly. "Looks like he's perfectly capable of handling it on his own."
"Ahhh," he said, grinning. "But I also wanted to come and see you."
Mary narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
"To tell you that I think you look great. Girl, I don't know what you've been doing over the Summer, but your efforts sure paid off."
"I'm sorry?"
"Honestly Woods, you look amazing."
He flashed her his winning smile once more, but all Mary could do was stare back at him. Was this for real? Apparently her figure had changed over the holiday and the first guy coming on to her was Sirius Black? What had she done to deserve this? "Are you hitting on me?"
Sirius's smile turned into a confident smirk and he casually slid his arm over the back of the couch, right behind her neck. "Would you like me to?"
Mary's eyes had momentarily shot to his arm before she glared back, seriously annoyed now. "No."
He didn't even seem remotely embarrassed and laughed. "You're a stubborn one. I like that. Gives me a challenge, you know?"
He momentarily stared to the corridor where Nina and her friends were walking by before he looked back at her and grinned once more, which slowly faded off his face when he noticed her expression. "Save yourself the trouble, Black. I can't stand you and I will never, I repeat never go out with you, understood?"
"Ah Woods, you say that now, but-"
"-Lesson one when you're hitting on someone," she interrupted him coolly. "Don't look at other girls such as a passing Nina Twycross when you're about to ask a girl out."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm just leaving my options open, love. Don't make such a big deal out of it."
Mary sighed and shot a exasperated look at Brice, whose face had disappeared entirely behind the newspaper she was holding. Her shoulders however were shaking lightly, revealing that she was having a surreptitious laughing fit. Mary could see what was so funny. Both her and Lily were scolding the guys who had asked them out.
"I really meant what I said, though," Sirius went on undisturbed after watching James trying to soothe an annoyed Lily for a while. "You've turned into a real knock-out."
Mary sighed, trying hard to hide the fierce blush crawling up her cheeks against her will. "Ugh, just leave me alone."
At that moment, Lily jumped up from her seat. "Get it into that thick skull of yours, Potter. You're just an arrogant bastard and I won't go out with you. Ever!"
She stepped out off the compartment and stalked away. James looked positively stunned and didn't seem to understand what he had done wrong. Sirius snorted when the tense silence in the carriage became almost unbearable. "Nice one, James."
Mary took this opportunity to get up herself and leave the compartment.
"Where are you going?" Brice asked.
"I'm gonna check on Lily," she replied.
"Hang on, I'll come with you," Sirius said, also jumping up from the couch.
Mary rolled her eyes at him. "Don't even think about it," she said coolly before slamming the compartment door shut with more force than she intended and stalking off to find her friend.
"That went well," James snorted as he and Sirius made their way back to their own carriage.
"Oh yeah," Sirius replied sarcastically. "You're this close to winning Lily over, I can feel it."
"Ooooh very funny," his friend said. "But if I'm not mistaken a certain Miss Woods wasn't exactly falling for your charm either."
"Not yet. But I know her kind. Just give me time, mate. Give me time."
The guys got back to their compartment just in time to get changed before they had to get off the train. Sirius jumped out first and deeply breathed in the fresh air. He had missed this place. It felt so much better being at Hogwarts than spending time at home with his disfunctional family. He and the others made their way over the horseless carriages while they checked out the 'fresh meat'. "Is it just me or are these first-years getting punier each year?" Peter asked as he climbed after Remus into one of the carriages.
James laughed as he waved at Hagrid, who was guiding the first-years over the boats at the edge of the lake. "Right you are, Pete. Merlin, it seems like ages since we went to Hogwarts for the first time, right?"
"Definitely," Sirius agreed. He was about to climb in himself when his eye caught something and he froze on the spot.
Mary was standing a little further ahead, talking to no other than Randall McCormack. He was gently touching her upper arm while they spoke and she laughed, occasionally flicking her hair over her shoulder. Sirius felt his stomach drop. She was flirting with him! Randall, his big example. Ten to one that he was asking her out. And that she would say yes… Sirius grumbled, climbed into the carriage and slammed the door shut with force. The carriage took off at once, while Sirius kept glowering at Mary and Randall as they passed them. This sight did not go by unnoticed. "Hang on," James called loudly as he gazed out of the window. "Is that Mary talking to Randall? Good Merlin, Sirius, is this like getting punched in the stomach or what!"
Sirius muttered something unintelligible and elaborated when his friend shot him confused glances. "Yes, she was talking to him. But he's nothing but bad news, will not treat her right at all… Anyway, like I said, she's not an easy target. I need some time. I will get her eventually, mind my words…"
Remus shot him a close look. "And does that mean you're going to be focused on her, and only her the entire time?"
Sirius looked genuinely surprised. "Of course not! There's plenty more fish in the sea after all."
Remus looked up at the sky as if he was forcing himself to keep his mouth shut about something. "You do what you need to do," he sighed eventually. "Just keep in mind that your quantity of conquests and caused broken hearts among the female population at Hogwarts is one of main reasons why she loathes you."
"He's got a point, you know," James said after a thoughtful pause.
Sirius did not reply and shrugged moodily while he continued to stare out of the window and watched the impressive Scottish scenery flash by.
"I cannot believe he asked you out!"
"I know, I'm still stunned myself."
"Randall McCormack asked you out!"
Mary couldn't stop grinning at the other girls in the horseless carriage. After she had left Brice, James and Sirius behind in the compartment and went looking for Lily, she had run in to Randall and one of his friends on the hallway. He said hi, which had surprised Mary because he had never exchanged a word with her before, and they chatted a bit. Then Mary had walked on and found Lily in an almost empty compartment with Severus. Deciding she could not go back to Brice just yet, she had sat down with them. Lily didn't mind of course, but Severus didn't seem to be that pleased about her disrupting their private gathering and after a while, Mary had returned to her own compartment after all. They had almost arrived at Hogsmeade Station anyway.
When she, Brice, Lily (who had rejoined them) and Alison, a friendly Slytherin, were waiting for an available horseless carriage, Mary heard someone calling her. She turned around wearily, dreading this would be Black again, but it wasn't. Randall was approaching her and she walked over to him, putting a little distance between them and her friends. He asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him. He said that he realized it was a bit early (the school year hadn't even started yet), but that he would really like to take her on a date.
And Mary, of course, had said yes. This would be her first date with a guy (not that she would ever tell him that) and with Randall McCormack to boot, the most handsome guy at Hogwarts. She was aware of his Casanova-reputation, but for some reason this did not really bother her. He was one year older and had dated many girls (possibly even more than Black), but Mary had this dream of being the one girl who would tame him for good.
She had been walking around with a blissful grin on her face the entire night. She didn't really pay attention to the Sorting and the following feast, because she was too busy to stare at Randall in an inconspicuous way. Mary did notice that Sirius was glowering in her direction more than once and she couldn't help but smile. He was probably just embarrassed that she had chosen Randall over him. "Serves him right…" she thought happily as she absent-mindedly took a bite of her treacle tart and listened to Brice and Peter discussing whether or not they should add Growing Potions to the first-year's pumpkin juice to "fatten them up" a bit.
Almost two months later, after the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, Randall McCormack and Mary Woods were officially an item. This was a downright depressing thought to Sirius, even though Randall going steady with Mary (for the time being) meant he could overtake his record on dating the most girls sooner than he had thought. He didn't know exactly why he was so bugged about them being together. He didn't like Mary; frankly, he felt almost nauseated whenever he watched her and Randall walking hand in hand through the corridors. So cheesy it gave him a toothache. So then why was he thinking so much about her?
It took Sirius another few days to figure it out. Eventually he realized that he feared Randall would hurt her feelings by dumping her. This had to happen at some time, and Sirius knew that Randall wouldn't hesitate to swap her for any girl (even her friends) as soon as he had gotten bored with her. That's what he always did and Sirius had followed his example more than once. He couldn't explain why, but he felt it was his duty to warn her about Randall before it was too late. Besides, her dumping him instead of the other way around would be a nice change.
One day Sirius was waiting outside the library where Mary and Randall had been studying together. They walked out and with a jealous pang in his stomach, Sirius watched him kissing her before he walked off to his DADA-class. Mary was just heading into the direction of the Great Hall when Sirius caught up with her. "Hey Woods."
Mary shot him an annoyed look. "What do you want, Black?"
"I need to talk to you. Just stop walking for a sec, okay?"
She seemed to consider this for a moment before she sighed and paused after all. "Yes?"
"Randall," Sirius said, looking straight at her. "I know you have like the biggest crush on him and I'm sure he likes you too. But he's not going to be like this forever. Step out while you can."
Mary's eyebrows were travelling up her forehead fast. "Why do you care, Black?"
"I don't!" Sirius countered a little too soon. "Or yes, I do. I just… know his type. He's going to get bored sooner than you'll think. He… He will break your heart."
"Like you would have done?" She shot him a look that clearly said she knew all about his ambition to break Randall's record.
"Well, I… Maybe. Whatever, this isn't about me. Dump him before he does it to you, that's all I'm saying."
"I don't intend to, but thanks for the advice."
She turned on her heels and would have walked off if Sirius hadn't caught her by the arm. "You don't possibly believe that it will be different with you, right?"
She paused and shot him a somewhat insecure look and Sirius instantly knew that was exactly what she was thinking. "Merlin Mary, get off that ivory tower of yours and wake up. You're no different to him than any other conquest. You're just… just another number on his list."
Mary pulled her arm away. "To you I would have been, I'm sure. But it's different with Randall. And you're just jealous, nothing more. Now just bugger off."
She shot him a last hateful look and stalked off. Sirius watched her walking away, realizing he had done everything he could to protect her. She was going to have to learn the hard way. He sighed and pulled a hand through his hair, wondering if Mary would come to him once Randall had dumped her without looking back, just to tell him he had been right after all and if he would be interested in going on a date to Hogsmeade with her…? Sirius snorted to himself. As if. Mary would rather drown herself than ever asking him out.
Sirius absent-mindedly slandered towards the library. He briefly wondered what would happen if he took Remus's advice and focused on conquering Mary's heart for a while, and her heart alone. He dared to bet he would succeed and get her in the end, but it certainly would take him a long time. Time he did not have. Sirius had finally reached the library and spotted Bhavya Patil, a cute fifth-year Ravenclaw, just walking out. She smiled when she passed him and he smiled back. He was just entering the library when he suddenly snorted. He didn't have time to focus exclusively on one girl; he had a record to break. He grinned to himself and pulled a hand through his hair before turning around and walking back out. "Hey Bhavya, wait up! I wanna ask you something."
- The End -