"Did you see them? The two over there!" One girl squealed obnoxiously.
"Damn. Why does Black get all the hot chicks! It's not bloody fair!" Someone whined besides the very attractive duet. Charlotte looked over and saw many boys locking eyes with her, and many girls drilling intense glares into her body. She turned up to Sirius to see that he too was getting dirty glares from the boys and winks from girls. She sighed. This isn't what it looked like. Sirius was just a very good friend. Nothing less, nothing more. Sirius turned his head down towards her and gave her a cocky grin as they strolled down the corridors of the Hogwarts Express.
"Ugh! Look at Striker! She's all over him!" Charlotte found herself rolling her eyes. She wasn't even touching the guy. Her pace was faster and Sirius caught up with her effortlessly, due to his long limbs, as they found the compartment nearest to the end. She ignored all the constant stares and lunged towards the door, only to groan at the sight. Lily Evans and James Potter, exchanging spit. Sirius grinned and leaned against the doorframe.
"Oi, Prongs!" Lily broke away and flushed as she pushed her boyfriend away from her, standing up and fixing her skirt and tie. James just pouted and sunk back into his seat, not bothering to fix his shirt as he ran a hand through his dark, messy hair.
"Please take it to a room!" Charlotte giggled softly. James started nodding furiously and attempted to grab Lily's hand but she walked away briskly which caused him to fall face flat on the ground. Sirius barked out a laugh and the red head girl came towards the dark haired girl and wrapped her arms around her slender neck.
"Charlotte Striker! How are you! It feels like I haven't seen you in years!" The Brunette giggled.
"Lily Evans. I saw you two days ago,"
"But still!" She protested. She wrapped her arms around the fiery red head as she lifted the smaller girl off the ground.
"Evannnsss, get back here!" James whined. Charlotte looked over Lily's shoulder to see Sirius Black clap hands with his best mate and grin at each other. Lily rolled her eyes and let go as the two girls took a seat across from the boys. Charlotte looked around feeling very empty and hollow. Sirius caught her eye and he cocked his head to the right.
"What're you looking for?"
"Remus," she answered. Sirius looked around too before scratching his head.
"Yeah, where's Peter? Where is everyone?"
"Remus is going to come tomorrow. Today's the Full moon," James sighed. They all grew quiet thinking of Remus and his…present. She shook a bit thinking about the last time she saw him as a werewolf. The pain in his eyes was evident and all she could do was stand there like an idiot while James and Sirius tried to fight him back towards the Shrieking Shack. Sighing miserably, she sat in a more proper position against the wall.
"What about Pettigrew?" She said in a very indifferent voice. She never really liked the fourth marauder. James and Sirius shrugged. They didn't really care too much for Peter Pettigrew too.
"So Prongs. Think of any more Quidditch techniques?" Sirius questioned. Lily and Charlotte groaned. Here we go. James' eyes lit up at the topic and he started waving his arms around. Lily sighed and she leaned back into her seat watching her boyfriend go on and on about the brutish sport. She found herself listening on to his plans growing a bit excited too. Once in a while she would pitch in ideas and laugh at James' ranting about the Slytherin team.
"You're still going to play Chaser, right?" Sirius turned to her. Making sure James didn't catch her, she shrugged. Too bad for the girl, James saw and his eyes grew wide.
"Why did you just shrug? You were supposed to nod! Charlotte! We need you on the team! You're the fastest Chaser we've had in years! Well apart from me," James added cockily.
"Yeah, and it's not fair for you to quit now! I was going to try out for Beater!" Sirius tried to reason. They all stared at him in shock.
"Are you serious Padfoot? You're going to join!" James screamed in excitement. Sirius nodded with a dumb smile on his face. Charlotte was pleasantly surprised, to say in the least. She never expected Sirius to go out on the Quidditch field with the possibility of breaking his pretty face.
"Yeah! Since spending time with you over the summer, I found out Quidditich isn't that bad of a sport," James cheered and she found herself grinning too. Lily crossed her legs and tapped her shoulder.
"Charlotte. Have you forgotten that it's N.E.W.T.S. this year? You won't have any time for Quidditch!" she shrugged again and stared out the window.
"I know, Lils," Charlotte told her affectionately. She bit her lip and also whispered something into her ear.
"Char…You also have a bad knee. May I remind you that you got that from Quidditch last year? How are you going to play Quidditch if you always topple over yourself?" She nodded solemnly. James and Sirius turned their attention back to the girls as Sirius raised one eyebrow.
"What are you two whispering about over there?"
"Just how lucky we were to be in the same compartment with you two hotties," she grinned, shaking off Lily's words. She giggled softly as the two boys proudly thrust out their chests. James didn't ask about Quidditch again and they just sat in their compartment laughing, eating treats, telling jokes, and just enjoying each other's company. As the castle drew near in sight Charlotte felt her stomach grumble. An arm snaked around her shoulders and the familiar scent of musk and cologne made her head dizzy and her heart relax. Sirius smiled at her, all his perfect teeth glistening against his perfectly shaped lips.
"Hungry, are we?" she rolled her eyes and turned her attention out the window as the nightfall comforted the duo. She just realized that James and Lily had wandered off to a different area and Sirius didn't want to leave her alone. She consciously leaned into Sirius as he set his chin on her shoulder. From her peripheral vision she saw his high and well sculpted cheekbones and jaw line. His grey eyes stared out the window too and she studied his beautiful nose, not a bump in sight. She followed his eyesight to see that he wasn't looking out the window but her reflection in the window. She looked away and felt his hand tighten a bit.
"Can you believe it's our last year?" he nodded somberly.
"We're going to be away from our home in a couple months time." Sirius nodded empathetically. He too came from a Pureblood family, who in a sense hated them. The Strikers, were notorious and often was in the same category as the Malfoys, Averys, Blacks, and Notts. Disgusting, right? Sirius moved out this summer and spent his time with James, but she was not as lucky, and she had the scar to prove it. Charlotte reminisced how she tried to escape her house as well, and possibly move in with Lily, but remembered being caught by her older brother who saw her escaping the Striker compound. Her father, as reasonable as he makes out to be in the public eye, was not a civil man to say the least. She sighed as she felt a large scar on the back of her left thigh.
"He did it again, didn't he?" She was shocked at Sirius' sudden question, knowing who he referred too.
"Yeah," She stated miserably. He dropped his arm and wrapped both of them around her small waist.
"Are you alright?" She nodded half-heartedly. Donovan Striker was a name they both feared, almost as scary as Orion Black.
"I'm almost 17. I'll be free soon,"
"James told me about how you couldn't get to Evans' in time."
"Yeah. Instead I had a nice long chat with my dear mumsy and popsey, along with my dear brother and his nice friends!" she sarcastically cheered. Sirius turned his head to the side giving her a hard and knowing stare.
"This isn't something to joke about. You should've owled me. I would've been there in an instant."
"All the pureblood families know of your escape. My family would've killed you, Sirius."
"I wouldn't have cared if it meant for you to be safe." She gave him a genuine smile and wrapped her hands around his. Sirius Black has been with her throughout her entire life. They were so compatible when they were children; it resulted in their parents agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outraged both stopped talking to either and hanging out making Charlotte's parents extremely frustrated. They called it off saying that she could do better. This of course just added fuel to the fire and the Blacks deemed them as worthless and branded the Strikers as their enemies. Sirius and Charlotte didn't start talking until they both enrolled in Hogwarts. Determined that they were both going to be put in Slytherin made them have a new common ground. However, when both were placed in Gryffindor, they grew a lot closer. The train started to come to a stop and Lily and James walked in, surprised at their position.
"What's going on here?" Sirius rubbed his hands against her stomach as he pulled back and stretched his arms.
"We were bonding," Lily stared at him with a blank expression. She liked him as a person but became uncomfortable every time he would get to close to Charlotte. She didn't trust him to be a good boyfriend. The brunette fixed her skirt and pulled on her robe, securely placing her wand in the pocket she charmed inside her black school robe.
"You guys ready?" James asked as he wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's waist protectively and lovingly. Sirius mimicked his action and wrapped an arm around Charlotte's waist. They then all headed off to their final year at home. Their real home.