A/N: To those who have read Reforming Pranksters before, you'll find that it is much different than before. I extended it, and personally find it much better than before. To new readers, enjoy! I hope you like hearing about Lauren's story as much as I do. :)
Chapter One- Expelled!
"What you did was terrible! You could have really hurt someone this time, Miss Allen," said the Frantic Headmistress of Orange County Senior Academy for Young Witches; her hysteria increasing with every syllable she spoke. Mrs. Lewis, the Headmistress, was simply appalled at the amount of mayhem one young lady could create given creativity and a knack for pranks.
While the Headmistress paced in front of the desk facing Miss Allen, Lauren Allen herself sat calmly in one of the plush chairs that adorned the Head's office with her legs crossed patting her knees in some rhythm. No doubt she knew the place well, for she had on several occasions been sent to the very same room and sat in the very same chair. She had been threatened time and time again about expulsion, but Mrs. Lewis had never really gone through with her threats. If she had, Lauren would've been out of the stupid school within her first month from arriving there.
"This was one too many time, Lauren. I've warned you countless times, but I've never been forced to expel you. However, no matter how 'harmless' you deemed this prank to be, many things could've gone seriously wrong. You take too make risks, and I can't tolerate it any longer. I'm sorry to say it, but Lauren Allen, you are no longer a pupil at OCSAYW. I will inform your father, so before he arrives, I recommend you go to your dorm room and pack up your own belongings. "
Surely she was joking, Lauren thought. When she voiced her thoughts aloud, however, she was on the receiving end of a stern and cold look from the Headmistress and it was then that she knew that Mrs. Lewis was not joking. Expelled. Lauren Allen was expelled, and she had no idea how to react. She had not been expecting this. Her pranks had not had any evil intentions, and the only thing those girls got out of it was damaged hair and unmanageable acne. Of course, any semi-decent witch would've been able to reverse the various potions and spells she has used, eventually. How this harmless prank had warranted an expulsion, she had no idea what-so-ever. They were all idiots in Lauren's opinion. "They" meant everyone in her whole idiotic school that she was forced to attend with other insipid girls that made her life hell.
Bidding the Headmistress adieu- with the minimal cordiality- Lauren excused herself from the office she knew so well and would never see again. The unfairness of her situation only seemed to anger her more, and she grumbled and muttered the entire way up the staircase and hallways until she reached the door to her room. She turned the knob that turned easily. She never locked the door. She entered into the room that had been hers since she entered OCSAYW two years ago. She thought that she had lasted in the school for two years too long. She started packing right away as the Headmistress had instructed, dully noting that it was the probably the first and definitely the last time that Lauren obediently did as she was told by the Headmistress. She summoned her things, so they would all be on her bed and easily in reach. Anything too large to carry, she shrank into a manageable size and stuffed –with the rest of her things -inside a bright red duffel bag. The only things she bothered to put in neatly were her favorite items which included prank items and T-shirts of her favorite bands. Pausing mid-fold in her favorite Pink Floyd T-shirt, she gave the room an once-over. She looked around the dorm that she shared with the most obnoxious girl that she could have possibly roomed with. Out of every girl in the school, Melody was definitely the worst of them all. Queen out of all the other bimbos, Melody seemed to go out of her way to annoy Lauren with her incessant speaking and how she always managed to sound like she was complaining about something. Of course, she usually was. Actually, she had partially given Lauren the idea for the prank one day when she sat at her bed looking in a hand mirror, complaining loudly of split ends and the "ugly red zit" on her chin. Lauren had figured her and all the other cronies needed much more to complain about.
She looked at the girl's side of the room for the last time ever, reminiscing over past pranks she had pulled on Melody. When she saw the hot pink bed covers belonging to Melody looking so nice and neat, a sudden bout of nostalgia went through her like a shudder. Deciding she needed to cause just a little more trouble before she left and that she might as well end her pranking at the school like she had begun it, Lauren dropped whatever item of clothing she held and went up to Melody's bed. She gave herself a running start, leapt when she was close to the foot of the bed and sprawled onto the bed. Her leap had jostled the many pink pillows, which only encouraged her. She grabbed at pillows and flung them across the room where they splattered onto the wall with satisfying light thumps. Finally noticing the closet when one flyaway pillow ricocheted off its door, she strode up to it and opened the door with a flourish. Grabbing at the monochromatic scale of pinks and red, Lauren ripped clothing from their hangars. She threw them haphazardly behind her shoulders, not caring where they landed. She continued in much the same manner of demolition to other girl's side of the room until something caught her eye at the top shelf in the closet. It was the girl's make-up kit. She recognized it from when Melody pulled it out to "freshen up" whenever she had a chance. An evil grin made its way onto Lauren's face, and she knew exactly what else she was going to do.
When Lauren walked back down the main staircase to the lobby where she would await her father, she was delighted to hear an ear-splitting scream make its way down two floors.
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"Dad?" Lauren said at the man currently seated in the driving seat of his brand-new 1975 Cadillac Coupe deville. She dully noted his hands clenched tightly against the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. She received no response at all. He just continued driving; incredibly tense. He had had to miss an important business meeting to come pick up his daughter from the school she had newly been expelled from. Lauren bit her lower-lip nervously, while fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, and waiting apprehensively for the loud reprimands she was sure would come soon. Mr. Allen had not been very pleased with having been informed by his daughter's Headmistress that his daughter had just been expelled. He wasn't exactly known for his good temper. Also, He had already been in a lousy mood due to his work, and the news had only made the day that much worse. It was bad enough that he had been unable to do any magic at all in work that day, because being in a co-ed work with both Magical and Muggle people it was hard for the witches/wizards to do magic inconspicuously. Not to mention the meeting he should have been attending at that moment was the one that decided exactly what they would decide for the advertisement, and they would also discuss financial matters and promotions. That meeting was critical to his career, and he had to miss it.
"Why?"
The question was so unexpected after such a long time of awkward silence that Lauren actually jumped and stopped the examining of her duffel bag to look over to her father. "Why what?" she asked with a slight croak after hours of no use.
"Why did you have to go and get yourself expelled?" Mr. Allen clarified.
Lauren twirled a long, auburn lock between her thumb and fore-finger while she contemplated her answer. "I wasn't trying to get myself expelled, just so you know. It was a completely innocent and harmless prank. No one was hurt, and I had made sure to do all the potions and spells right. It was foolproof. I had it all under control, dad. Nothing even went wrong! If those girls cared more about their brains than the latest celebrity gossip, then they would've been able to get rid of the hair dye and acne easily enough."
Mr. Allen's expression didn't change any, but his death grip on the steering wheel slackened somewhat. He had expected something more serious. Considering Lauren's track record, he believed it would have had to be much worse to have to warrant an expulsion. If he was honest with himself he was relieved, but it would not do to let Lauren know that. It wouldn't do to let Lauren think that pranking everyone was okay. It was usually her harmless pranks that got her into trouble, and he just wanted her out of it. He didn't respond. He didn't trust himself to speak in case she somehow sensed his relief, but he knew he had to change the subject soon or she would realize it anyway. He spared a glance from the road to the passenger's seat where his only daughter sat clutching her bag of belongings as if it were her lifeline. Feeling a pang of guilt at knowing that she feared him right then, he began speaking in his most calm voice.
"I was thinking of where you could continue your education, and I ruled out-automatically- all of the American schools. I've been thinking along the lines of sending you abroad to a European school. There's actually quite a few great schools over there, and I think they're the only hope for you, now."
Lauren couldn't understand what was happening. This was out of her realm of knowledge. Never in her life had her father simply let her get away with any type of wrongdoing without a yell, a scolding, or some kind of punishment. Never had he taken it in stride and simply changed the subject as if what she had just done didn't even matter. Normally she would at least get a reprimand or two if her prank was mild, but never ever had he left it alone. The world was ending. She was going insane. "Pinch me. I think I'm dreaming," she said looking dazed as if something she never imagined could happen really did happen. In Lauren Allen's case, such a thing just happened to her, and she was at a loss for what to do.
"Sorry?"
Looking at her father's confused expression (tinged with a speck of guilt that she couldn't explain) made Lauren realize that everything was true. She wasn't insane, and she certainly wasn't dreaming. Suddenly she smiled, and clutched her bag even tighter to herself trying to contain her glee. Perhaps her father had finally come to terms with her pranking.
Noticing his daughter's sudden change of demeanor only seemed to encourage Mr. Allen into continuing from where he had previously left off. He said, "Actually, I already have a school where I think I can make a responsible person out of you yet". Lauren frowned confused.
"What are you talking about?"
Mr. Allen sighed with mild frustration. Of course she hadn't been listening to a single word he said. She never did, it's not like today would have been any different. "I'm talking about sending you to a boarding school in Europe.
"Oh… okay," she said shrugging as if what he said wasn't huge news. Then the penny dropped."Wait. What?" Boarding school in Europe? No. Freaking. Way. Her father was sending her to boarding school. Her father was sending her away. She would be sent away to some crummy old school that would probably suck all the youth and imagination that she possessed. How could her father, her own father do this to his one and only daughter. If her mother was still around she would have never permitted it. Be it as it may, her mother was not around, and so there was nothing she could do.
"You're kidding, right?" she asked, horrified. Her knuckles were turning white from squeezing the straps of her bag tightly. Any joy she had been feeling quickly left her only to be replaced with a feeling of betrayal.
"Of course not. I'm honestly thinking about enrolling you into the renowned Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's supposed to be one of the best, and I sincerely hope so. Maybe, you can finally mature into a responsible person. I'll definitely be having a word with the Headmaster. I want to know all that I can". His heart clenched as he said this. Of course he noticed his daughter's distress. He saw her visibly wilt. He saw how his daughter's eyes widened in alarm. He could see the horror, the confusion, and the tinge of hurt his announcement caused in them. Of course he didn't enjoy the idea of sending her off abroad; and if he was a man capable of expressing his emotions clearly, he would have tried with all his might to convince her that he wasn't trying to get rid of her. However, Mr. Allen isn't a man of such sensibilities, so he did no such thing.
In her own mind, Lauren was a mess. How her father could simply decide to send her off and decide to do it on a whim hurt her more than he could ever imagine. She was going to be abandoned once again. As if she needed reminding of that day ten years ago. However, she refused to let him see how much his words affected her. She wouldn't let him get away with sending her off to be molded into what he thought she should be. He was going to make him regret doing what he was about to do some day, but for the mean time she settled in showing as much distaste for the idea as she could.
"Hog Warts? Really, dad? You're really going to trust the education and welfare of your child to a school named after a pig's acne problems? This is not okay, I hope you know," she said. Every word dripped with skepticism as she had intended. She tried to keep her face cold and hard, but she couldn't help her lip curling slightly betraying her disgust.
Channeling the cold strict father in him, said, "Please, Lauren. Try to behave for once in your life. I don't need your snide comments right now. If you don't have any questions related to the school and you have nothing important to say then just keep your mouth shut." Lauren's eyes flashed, but kept her mouth shut she did. She didn't make a single sound for the rest of the ride home. Her icy stare inspected her nails, the scenery outside, the lining in the seats, but never in the whole three hours he drove did she turn to look at him again. Her lips were hard set determined to not make a single sound. She sat so stiffly in the seat that the only signs that showed she was alive were the occasional fidgets and her steady breaths. When they finally arrived to their home, which was much too big for only two people, Lauren calmly collected her belongings without a word and marched out of the car. She didn't even slam the door, and nor did she when she stalked up to the house and walked through the main door. She was an iceberg.
Mr. Allen sighed once again. He seemed to do that a lot lately. He had been doing it a lot since that terribly day ten years ago. He clenched and unclenched his fists on the steering wheel where he sat frozen from the iciness his daughter had shown. Sure she had been angry at him before, but never before had she been so cold to him. She would blow her top and yell and scream like a toddler and he would scold her and send her to her room. The next day she would still be a bit angry, but she always got over it. Never before had she reigned in her anger, and turned so cold. If he was honest, it hurt. It really hurt, but he knew he had deserved it even if only a bit. The ride had been going fine, smooth even until he had to go and ruin everything. If his daughter hated him forever it would be entirely his fault.
Mr. Allen suddenly got up and out of the car, and shook himself. No, of course Lauren wouldn't hate him forever. Hogwarts would be a good thing for her. She needed limits, and it was high time that he actually set some. The time that Lauren ran amuck reeking havoc wherever she went was over. She would grow up into a respectable young lady that she should be whether she liked it yet or not. He closed the door to his car, making sure to lock it, and went up the driveway to the doorway where the door stood ajar. Lauren hadn't even bothered to close the door as she entered.
"Typical," he muttered, closing the door behind him. "Things are going to change," he said to the empty corridor that lay out in front of him looking much longer than it should. "They have to"
Lauren had held in her anger up until the moment she entered her bedroom on the second floor on her house. She had dropped her duffel bag unceremoniously onto the floor upon entering and closing the door behind her. A quick glance around the room showed that nothing had moved since the last time she had last been in the room. The walls were bare, however, and no pictures of her and friends adorned the shelves and bedside tables. It's not as if she had ever made much friends at her stuffy school, and all her posters still sat in her luggage neatly folded. The room barely looked as if she even owned it. This, of course, only sent another surge of anger through her. Of course the room wouldn't look like hers if she was never there long enough to make it. She let out a shriek of frustration, finally breaking her silence and flung herself onto the bed. Groaning into her pillow she realized that she would probably never get the chance to make her room livable. If her father had his way, which he always did, she would packing her bags and going to some boarding school named after pig acne as soon as possible. "Ugh. Hog warts," she groaned, "I didn't even know hogs could even have warts."
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Lauren spent every day until it would have been time for summer vacation in much the same manner. She pretty much kept to her room except when it was dinner and she was forced to listen to her father tell her all about Hogwarts and how he was arranging her to enter at the end of their summer break. She tried to stay stony-faced even when she was intrigued by the school despite herself. The school was apparently in a castle; A real life castle with turrets, hundreds of corridors, and secret passageways. She was, much to her own horror, starting to accept her relocation to this Hogwarts.
It was already a month and a half since she had been expelled, and it was already mid-July. On September first she would be joining in the ranks of the people of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had almost hoped that the Headmaster would have refused her admittance, and she wouldn't have had to go. Alas, he had let her in. She wasn't sure if to think she was incredibly fortunate or extremely unfortunate.
There was a knock on the door. "Lauren, I know you're in there." It was her father.
Dragging herself up off of her bed she went to the door and opened it abruptly, "What do you want?"
He lifted a dark eyebrow, "Don't get that tone with me." Taking in her appearance and the disorder in the room behind her he let out a sputter of disbelief. "How are you not ready, yet? We were supposed to go get your school supplies in the list," he held up an envelope, "We're going to England."
Lauren looked down at herself as if she had completely forgotten she was still in pyjamas, and added in a voice far too innocent to actually be innocent. "Sorry, Daddy. Completely forgot." She then retreated back into her room, closing the door in her father's face, and returned a few minutes later fully dressed. "I'm reeaaady," she drawled out. shook his head impatiently and said, "It's about time. We have to go to England, now. London if you want to be exact."
"Um. How are we getting there?" Lauren wouldn't admit it, but she had been worrying about that for a few weeks already. She had completely forgotten that her father was a wizard and could also do magic.
"Apparition, of course," he said distractedly as he ushered her down the hall and out the door where he grabbed Lauren's wrist tight, and spun on the spot as soon as his foot hit the threshold. Suddenly Lauren had the most uncomfortable sensation of being forced through a very small tube, and then just as suddenly as she felt it the sensation was gone. She had closed her eyes during the side-along apparition, and she was greeted with a pleasant shock when she opened them again.
She was standing in front of a large building with white marble pillars. Gringott's. It was the only wizarding bank in Britain, or so her father had said. She freed herself from her father's vice-like grip, and as he did so he made to enter the building. As he reached the top of the steps he turned back to her and said, "You wait here until I transfer money into your new account here, and get some out for you". Before she could even reply he was gone, and Lauren was left completely alone in the nearly deserted cobblestone street. She caught snippets of conversations as they passed her by, but the one that caught her interest the most was between an elderly witch with a young teenage boy that looked about Lauren's age. He was thin and scrawny with jet-black hair that went in all directions. If she guessed, she could suppose he was about fifteen perhaps sixteen.
"I'm just not quite understanding why we have to come so early, mum"
"I already told you, James, it best to come a few weeks before term starts," said the aging woman.
"Few weeks? It's a whole bloody month until I have to go back to Hogwarts!" the boy said exasperatedly. It had been the mentioning of the school she was to attend that riveted her attention to their conversation. She strained her ears to hear more.
"Yes. A month which will pass much too quickly while not passing quickly enough," the woman replied in a tone Lauren couldn't place. If she wasn't so sure that their accent was making her imagine it, she would think it held fear for some reason. It seemed to keep the boy quiet and just like that they were walking passed her. Whatever it was that the woman was speaking about, the boy certainly understood what. She had a half mind to go after them and ask, but her nerve seemed to have deserted her at that moment.
Just as the woman and the boy disappeared behind a corner, Lauren's father finally exited the doors of the Gringott's Bank, and walked towards Lauren holding a bag of coins.
"Okay. Time to shop. What things were on the list?"
Temporarily forgetting about the boy with the messy hair and the elderly witch with the strange tone, Lauren focused on getting all of the needed supplies for the school term.
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After getting her textbooks and potion ingredients and the like, Lauren looked at the bottom of the supplies list where now the only thing left was the option of bringing an owl, cat, or toad. Personally, neither of the options seemed good for her. An owl would be useless, because the poor owl would have to cross and entire ocean to reach her father (if she ever got the desire to send him a letter). A cat is usually useless at any time, and a toad would be disgusting. Lauren told her father such, and said she would much rather go without taking a pet at all. She had no need for one anyway. Her father replied sounding skeptical, "Okay. If you think so" and let the matter rest. With that the Allens returned to their home loaded with Lauren's shrunken supplies, and went back to how they had been living for the past month and a half. Lauren tapped her wand on a trunk she had bought that day to un-shrink it, and opened it to reveal her new school things. In it were the many textbooks they would be using for each class, brass scales, potion ingredients among other things, and the new uniform she would have to wear. Finding what she was looking for, she grabbed the robes and held them up to herself in front of the mirror. She would have to wear these every day for the whole school year and the year after that, assuming she didn't get expelled before then.
Lauren studied herself in the mirror. She was too tall for a girl her age reaching a whopping five-feet-eight. Her red hair, while being a decent red color, hung limply on her thin frame. She turned to the side only to reveal she was very underdeveloped for a fifteen-going-on-sixteen year old. Her thinness certainly didn't help in that area. She never really cared that much about her appearance before, but the Hogwarts cloak was sure to only make her look like a bat; A fact which worried her greatly. The last thing she needed was to be ridiculed for how she looked. Granted, she wouldn't blame them, but she wouldn't be able to just take in stride. She would retaliate, and Merlin knows she didn't need to make enemies so early. The only bright side was that the skirt and blouse worn beneath the robes made up for the eyesore that was the cloak. At least the skirt made her legs look soft and round rather than skeletal, and the blouse gave her thin waist a semblance of shape. She would have to figure out a way to rid herself of the cloak permanently.
Still, Lauren was somewhat impressed by Hogwarts. She no longer held the belief that the place would suck her dry of her imagination, but she didn't have to let her father know that. She could still be wrong, and she didn't want anyone thinking she thought otherwise about the school in case it did end up being a bore. A consolation was that the school was co-ed. If by some cruel turn of fate all the girls at Hogwarts turned out to be just as insipid, she had boys to turn to. They, at least, made decent friends.
She pivoted on her heel, turning away from the mirror, and willed herself to not think of Hogwarts as she peeled off her uniform. She folded it neatly when she was done, and placed it back into the trunk. When she was back into her pyjamas, she plopped herself onto the bed where she stayed.
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Today was finally the day, Lauren thought as she checked one last time that she had all her things. Satsified she did, she pulled her trunk down the corridor from her room and met her father in the living room. The clock read ten A.M. They didn't have to arrive at Platform 9¾ until eleven, but she decided not ask questions. Her father always was one to be the earliest one at any party or meeting.
"Ah. Lauren, there you are. What took you so long?"Her father said upon spotting her. Before she could respond he was speaking again. "Nevermind. We better get going. Hurry it up." At this Lauren gave her father an incredulous look.
"Dad, we have an entire hour to reach the platform," she said.
"No. we only have an hour," she said while pulling her towards the fireplace.
"We're going to Floo? Why not just apparate like last time?" she said while Mr. Allen fumbled with a pouch that contain green powder.
"Too far to travel while carrying baggage," he said distractedly, stuffing some of the powder into Lauren's hand. She still wasn't convinced. They had done it on the way back from Diagon Alley. When she voiced this aloud, Mr. Allen shook his head.
"Last time we shrunk all of your stuff" So? Lauren thought her father was maybe going mad.
"We could, you know, shrink them again?" She hoped she could get her father to see reason. She hated traveling by floo powder. It made her dizzy, and she could never keep her balance.
"I said no, Lauren. Beside, we're flooing to the house of a family that will take us to the platform. Actually, they have a daughter going to Hogwarts, too. This will be a good time to get you acquainted with someone you should become friends with. She's a nice girl; the daughter of a respectable man that I once worked with," he said finally, knowing she wouldn't rest until he told her the real reason they were taking such a detour. As he expected, Lauren groaned when she realized why he really wanted to go by floo. Of course he wanted her to meet a girl that he hoped she was like. She just knew she wasn't going to like the girl one bit.
Lauren was right, and then she was also wrong. She had been correct in assuming that the girl had perfect manners and was nice and quiet. She was also decently pretty. She was the type that perhaps many missed, because she didn't seem to speak much. "Seem" is the key word there. No sooner had the two girls crossed the barrier into the platform, the girl let out a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "Finally! Won't have to put up with my dad until end of school year!" When her father reappeared as he crossed the border, she went quiet, but her eyes now held a brightness Lauren hadn't seen before. Lauren grinned, happy that she hadn't been entirely correct, or fair, in her first judgment of Sophie.
"Bye dad. Tell mum I said goodbye," she heard Sophie tell her father when he walked up to them.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye yourself?" He told her in a voice that expressed some kind of concern. If he was anything like Lauren's dad, he was probably thinking that Sophie was being incredibly rude and was making their family look bad. Sophie turned on her heel and walked up to the train as an answer. Lauren followed as well, and only turned her face to see her father's face when she did. He had, after all, hoped that Lauren would be like Sophie. Also, it spared her the awkward goodbye she would have to say to him. She would much rather leave on her own terms.
She could barely see him through the throng of people around the train that was preparing to depart. From what she could discern he had a look that didn't look surprised. It was almost as if he had expected it from her. Not knowing why this bothered her, Lauren clenched the hand pulling her trunk more tightly, and followed Sophie into the train. A Brightside about going to another boarding school was that no longer would she have to hear how she wasn't good enough by her father, because there would be the entire Atlantic Ocean separating them.
As she entered the Hogwarts Express behind Sophie, the girl suddenly turned towards her and said in a voice obviously trying not to offend. "Um. Lauren, right?"
Lauren only blinked. Sophie went on, "Uh. I'm sorry, but I have to go sit with my friends. I'd invite you, but…" She dropped off and Lauren suddenly understood. I'd invite you, but we're full. I'd invite you, but I don't want to. I'd invite you, but…
Lauren could take a hint, so she shrugged and smiled in a way she hoped seemed uncaring. "It's fine. I think I recognize someone from the compartment over there," she said pointing to the direction where the corridor stretched out into many other compartments. Sophie seemed to notice the lie, but kindly said nothing and instead smiled.
"Okay then. See you later then." And with that Sophie was gone, walking down the corridor opposite the one Lauren had pointed to. Knowing that Sophie had friends and somewhere she belonged brought an unexpected pang in Lauren's chest. Everyone had someone to sit with and somewhere to sit at, where she had no one and nowhere. Knowing full well that no one would offer her a seat, she settled on finding an empty compartment to sit at. People were starting to have to push past her to get to the train since she was in the way. She braced herself, clutching her trunk, and walked forward. As she had predicted, all the compartments were full. Compartment after compartment had students, of varying ages, sitting together talking animatedly. When she finally did find the only completely empty compartment, she was so relieved she didn't even bother to wonder at the absurdity that a compartment should be empty between two full ones. She slid the door open to the compartment and entered it cautiously, as if expecting to be kicked out. The compartment was of medium size. It could fit perhaps four to six occupants depending on their size. Deciding this would be the only empty compartment she would be likely to find, Lauren settled herself into it. She tried and failed to lift her heavy trunk up to put it away. Resigning, she just left it there. Her arms held no strength whatsoever. She was fighting a losing battle. Sighing, she sat down in the spot nearest the window and stared out of it, not really seeing. Getting comfortable, she pulled her legs up to her chest. She sat like that until she felt the train give a lurch. It was such a shock that the lurch made Lauren slide off the seat to land unceremoniously on the floor. Her head had stayed on the seat, but her bum was on the floor and it stung from the force with which she hit the ground. Her long legs stuck up awkwardly. Only her arms were free, but out in awkward angles.
The situation was made worse when Lauren heard the compartment door slide open. She looked up to see three boys enter and stop in their tracks upon seeing her trunk and then Lauren herself on the floor."Oi! This is Marauder only compartment. We marked this spot as ours since our second year," said the boy that walked in first. He had a look of annoyance on his face, which was a handsome one, and he ran his hand through his chin length hair exasperatedly. Lauren looked down at herself and back up at the boys. They had gotten over the primary shock of seeing someone in their compartment, but their confused expressions still held. Another boy spoke up, "What're you doing on the floor, anyway?" Lauren looked around for the voice of the boy, but couldn't see it. All the boys were still standing at the doorway. He was probably behind them. Sighing heavily she said, "Oh. I'm having the time of my life here, because it's so comfortable sitting like this…What do you think? I'm stuck." Another boy finally stepped forward and held a hand out for her, and she grabbed it gratefully to help herself up.. When she was finally standing properly, Lauren could finally get a good look at the boys that had so rudely entered her compartment. The one that had spoken first was still looking at her with distaste as if she had vexed him very much. Nonetheless, Lauren couldn't help noticing he was more than just handsome. If she hadn't just heard him speak so rudely to her, she would have pegged him as "hot". However, the mistreatment of herself only irked her, and she made a face right back at him. This only managed to make him turn away from her angrily.
She looked down at herself, and then back at the boy that had helped her up.
"Thanks. For helping me that is," she said in her least sarcastic voice. The boy had a nice face. He seemed like the type Lauren didn't want thinking she was too bad of a person. He didn't have to find out so early, anyway. The sandy-haired boy smiled kindly at her and stepped aside to let two more boys into the compartment. One Lauren guessed was the one she hadn't seen when he spoke earlier, and then realized with a jolt that she recognized the other boy. He was the same boy she had heard talking about Hogwarts while she waited outside of Gringott's bank in Diagon Alley.
"I've seen you before!" she said before she could stop herself. The boy's eyes widened in shock, and then his expression changed and he had a smug smirk on his face.
"I see my fame transcends oceans. I'm even well-known in America." The boys all sniggered, and the boy's hazel eyes were bright. They noticed her American accent.
Lauren blushed uncharacteristically, and looked down at her hands which now lay on her trunk. She spoke down to it, "I'm sure it does". She glanced back up at all the boys with a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. The boy smiled back as did the others except for the pretty one. He was still grimacing at her.
"Am I the only one who still wants to know what the bloody hell she's doing in our compartment?"He cried indignantly, "Its Marauder only. It's been that way for ages!" The other boys all shared a glance before turning to Lauren with an uncanny synchronicity that was absolutely absurd.
"Who are you, anyway?" said the small, slightly dumpy one. He had a round, pink face, watery blue eyes, and fine blond hair.
Lauren sighed quietly to herself, and sat back down in her spot as she had before her fall. "My name's Lauren…if that's what you want to know." They all nodded at this except for the long-haired rude one. He scoffed, "Well, Lauren, how is it that you are sitting in our compartment when you are obviously not one of us." He said her name as if it was something really disgusting, and it bothered Lauren more than she let on. Determined to not be intimidated by the handsome angry boy, she retorted with mock innocence.
"How blunt of an answer do you want?" She widened her eyes questioningly. She knew she played a dangerous game by patronizing him. She pretended not to notice the way his lip curled, and the incredulous looks his friends had. "The most blunt answer being, of course, that I walked in and settled myself in it." When she was done all was quiet for three excruciatingly long seconds until the hazel eyed boy started to snicker, and plopped himself in the space beside her.
"Never before have we met a girl capable of holding her own against his temper," he said appreciatively. Lauren's guard immediately went up. Where they pulling her leg? Then the smallest of the boys spoke up again, "Anyone able to do that is worthy of sitting in the compartment, I say" They sure think highly of themselves, Lauren thought wryly. "Nice to know," she said just as wryly.
Taking the hazel-eyed boy's lead, the boy also sat down in the spot right across from Lauren. The sandy-haired boy, happy that conflict had been avoided, sat down right next to him and pulled out an old, battered book. Annoyed that his friends had all accepted the strange new girl, the long-haired boy sat down reluctantly beside the sandy-haired one. He remained surly and rude to her, and only spoke like a normal human being to his friends.
Lauren was growing more and more annoyed as the minutes of awkward silence dragged on. Finally she worked up the nerve to ask, "So…Do Hogwarts people have names?" It was a lame half-joke, and she knew it, but she never did learn to censor what came out of her mouth.
The others, with one exception, smiled; humoring her.
"I believe they do. Let's check shall we?" the hazel-eyed boy started, "I'm James. James Potter. Oh! Seems some do." Lauren grinned sheepishly. The boy sitting directly across from her with the watery eyes stammered "Well, if you want to know I'm Peter. Pettigrew. I mean, I'm Peter Pettigrew". Closing his book and laying it down on his lap, the sandy-haired one said, "Nice to meet you, Lauren. I'm Remus Lupin. Just call me Remus."
"Okay," she nodded at Remus with a small smile, "It's very nice to meet you, too"
James pretended to be hurt, "And what about me or Peter?" Lauren let out a very rare giggle escape her lips. "Of course, of course," she spoke in a very fake, very posh English accent, "How could I forget about Messrs. Potter and Pettigrew? My mistake. it was an absolute pleasure meeting you both." She then went on to pantomime an elderly woman pick up a cup of tea from its saucer and take a loud sip from it. This, of course, only started them all laughing.
To the boys, her easy manner and dumb jokes were the perfect ice-breakers. They didn't quite accept her, yet, but she was at least Hogwarts-worthy. It was also a bit of a plus that she was decently pretty. It no longer mattered that, for some strange reason, Sirius had taken a disliking to her. When the laughter finally died down, James took it upon himself to introduce his best mate to her. "Oh. And that prat over there," he nodded to the angry Sirius sitting beside Remus," his name is Sirius Black." Lauren nodded in understanding to this. She could finally put a name to his face. Sirius Black.
Little did she know just how much his name would stick in her mind for the passing days.
A/N: There we have it. I almost continued it, but this chapter would have been too long. This is just above 7k words without an A/N. If I kept it going it, it would have easily gone past 14k. A Penny for your thoughts?