Night Moves
Chapter 1
1971
Felicia sighed, frustrated as she struggled to keep up with her mother while keeping an eye on their lagging elf, trying his best to keep pace with his mistresses while pushing a cart full of the younger's school things. They were already late and Gibby's lagging wasn't going to get them there any faster. Of course, it would have been much more efficient for Felicia herself to push the cart. After all, it was full of her things, but Claudette Monroe simply refused to let her daughter do "servants' work."
"Feliciana, hurry up, stop dragging your feet!" The girl's mother came back for her, roughly grabbing her daughter's hand and proceeded to all but drag her to the platform.
"But, mother, Gibby-"
"Nevermind that silly elf." Claudette snapped at her daughter, pulling her through the barrier to platform 9 3/4 .
"Now," She patted the girl's head, trying to flatten the same unruly hair that she possessed, "get on the train, I'll wait here for that incompetent creature to get here with you things."
"Yes ma'am," Feliciana nodded, knowing that the few pats on the head were the closest thing to a heartfelt goodbye she was going to receive from her mother, "give my regards to father."
"Of course." The older woman nodded, a proud look on her face, "Go on and find a compartment," she gave her daughter a gentle push towards the train.
Felicia's girl's hazel eyes flickered back once more to her mother. Though she knew this was the last time she would be seeing her mother until Christmas, she couldn't muster an ounce of longing for home or either one of her parents.
Stepping onto the train, she instantly regretted lagging behind with the house elf. All of the compartments seemed to be full of students, chatting about their summers. Finally, she found a nearly empty compartment that held another first year boy, already in uniform. She quickly made her way into the compartment before a group of on coming students could swoop in and fill the seats.
"Excuse me?" The boy looked up upon hearing her polite voice, "may I sit here? Everywhere else seems to be full."
"Uh, yes, of course." He nodded, turning his eyes back down to the book in his lap. After taking a seat across from the pale boy, she realized the book he was reading was in fact one of their school books.
"Are you a muggleborn?" Feliciana tried to ask in what would be a casual kind of way, like how purebloods could so casually call someone a muggle but, by the startled look on his face, she was obviously
"Halfblood." He answered quietly, looking almost ashamed as he turned back down to his book.
"I'm sorry," The dark haired girl tried apologizing, "I didn't mean to be rude." Though the girl came for pureblood herself, she had always been taught to put manners before everything, even if it was towards those whose blood wasn't as pure as hers.
"It's just that I saw you reading one of our school books…"
"Oh," His light eyes went wide, a small bit of red tinting his cheeks, "I was just trying to get ahead." The halfblood quickly shut the book.
"Don't mind me, you can continue your reading." Felicia stated, quite business-like, as she sorted through her shoulder bag, pulling out a copy of the Prophet as well as a pair of very thick reading spectacles. "Before you go back to reading though, could you tell me your name?"
"It's Remus, Remus Lupin." Remus gave her a tight, rather forced looking smile. She wasn't sure if the gesture looked so uncomfortable because of her previous blatancy or because of the long jagged scar running down the side of the boy's face. He was very peculiar, though he seemed polite enough.
"It's very nice to meet you, Remus, I'm Feliciana Monroe," She gave him the sweetest smile, "please do call me Felicia, though." It was crucial for her to gain his trust. He was quite bookish, and probably going to end up being a Ravenclaw. He could be quite useful later on and, despite being a halfblood, Remus seemed polite enough, and felicia was sure he could carry on a decent conversation.
"Hey, Lupin! I thought we told you to save our seats?" The compartment door roughly slid open, revealing three boys, each looking more disheveled than the next in their new school robes.
"Well, she didn't have anywhere else to sit, I was just trying to be nice…" Remus once again stumbled to put his book away, as though he was trying to hide it away from the boys to avoid reliving the embarrassment he had gone through minutes before.
"A girl? Out of everyone, you had to let a girl into our compartment?" Felicia stared, confused at the boy who seemed to be the ring leader of the three trying to enter the cart. He seemed to be the most put together out of the trio, with glossy, black flawless hair and a properly tied necktie.
The next snickering boy in line had messy hair, a loosely tied tie, and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. His smile was very mischievous, this four eyed wonder was definitely second in command. Of course, he didn't have much competition, with the chubby, red-cheeked boy behind him who seemed to be nothing but a tag-along, helplessly trying to peer around the other two boys.
"Well, at least Remus has manners," She was outraged at the thought that another first year would treat a fellow student in the manner that this young man was treating her. He must have been a filthy muggle, "you know, if you keep strutting around like you own the place, you'll find yourself in Azkaban sooner rather than later."
"Ouhhhhhhhh." The four eyed boy chuckled, earning a punch from the taller boy.
"Shut up, Potter," He seethed, causing his friend's laughter to come to an abrupt stop, "don't think I don't know who you are, Ms Monroe."
"Monroe? Like Marilyn Monroe?" The one behind the Potter boy asked, only to be ignored by the rest of the group.
"You use to play with my cousins." The dark haired boy nodded to her, "You know, my parents said that I should try and get off on a good foot with you, being that our families are known for being close..." Feliciana scrutinized the boy, coming to the conclusion that there was no way this rude idiot came from a noble family.
"Did they?"
"Indeed they did," The boy moved into compartment, arms crossed, as though he was trying to look intimidating, "they also told me to get on well with the Malfoy boy, but it seems as though he didn't like my greeting present very well."
"Oh, don't feel bad Sirius, not everyone appreciates a good dung bomb!" Foureyes gave his friend a pat on the back in passing as he moved to take the corner seat across from Felicia.
"Sirius?"
"Of course we're serious! We bombed a whole compartment of Slytherins!" The Potter boy gave her an outraged look, as though doubting his word was sin.
"No, Sirius, Sirius Black? You're a Black?" She screwed up the face, clearly baffled by the realization. The young man standing in front of her definitely harbored all of the trademark features of a Black, but his attitude was complete rubbish.
"Is there a problem Monroe?" Sirius crossed his arms over his chest, scowling at her.
"Not at all," Felicia quickly re-packed her bag and tried to push her way out of the compartment. She had already bitten off more than she could chew, having snapped at a Black, of all people, the way she did. Her mother and father had told her the same thing, to make sure and get along with the other pureblood families, but they didn't tell her that the other children were such ruddy brats.
As a child, Felicia would often play with the other Black children; Narcissa and Bella. Though they were older, and Bellatrix often said that she was 'too old' for such 'childish' games, they got along quite splendidly, just as their mothers did.
This boy, however, seemed to be a whole different story.
"Get outta my way, Black." She tried pushing past him but the stubborn arse seemed to have no intention of moving.
"Why don't you just make- Oof!" At that moment the train lurched forward, causing Felicia to be thrown on top of the rude boy in front of her, and onto the seat. She quickly struggled to get back on her feet and out of the compartment before anyone of the boys could see her blazing cheeks.
"She really made you, mate!" Felicia could hear the young man with the glasses calling behind her as the other two laughed along, then she heard the slamming of the compartment door.
Rude.
The young girl seriously contemplated spending the whole trip in the bathroom. All the compartments were full and Sirius Black had ruined her only attempt at making a friend. She was wandering the halls, hoping to find someone compassionate enough to take pity on an alone first year when she smelt it, the awful stench of a dung bomb. Felicia pinched her nose, about to turn back before she happened upon a compartment containing only two first years.
"Excuse me, may I sit?" She quickly shut the door behind her, hoping to keep out some of the smell. The student closest to her looked as though he would have preferred to have told her to bugger off, though the red headed girl next to him ushered her to take a seat.
"If you can stand the smell," She rolled her striking green eyes, "those idiot boys…"
"Tell me about it…" Felicia unshouldered her bag and decided, probably way too quickly, that she liked this girl already.
"May I ask your names? I'm Felicia." She smiled, keeping the conversation short and chivalrous, not wanting to ruin her chances of making friends again.
"My names Lily, and this is Severus!" Lily returned the girl's smile with plenty of excitement, though the boy beside her remained very emotionless.
"Nice to meet you."
"May I ask what house you want to be in? I'm very curious about it." Lily seemed very eager about the question, though it only seemed to make the boy on her right tense.
"Well, Slytherin, of course…" Felicia trailed off, stopping when she heard Lily's gasp.
"But… You seem so nice."
"Lily…" Severus looked almost relieved now as he spared Felicia a look before he continued talking to his friend, "Slytherin can't be all that bad."
"Well, it's just what the books said… Not a single bad witch or wizard hasn't come from Slytherin." She cast her green eyes downward, avoiding the other student's glances.
"Though there's nothing wrong with reading now and then," Felicia thought back to the boy from earlier, Remus, his face buried in his school book. "you can't get everything you know from books." She pulled her glasses and paper from her bag once more, and began reading, ignoring the fiery looks from the red-head for the rest of the train ride.
