I have decided that despite my lack of updating on my other stories, I should once again start another story. I have taken it upon myself to write the best love triangle ever! Not to be too forward, but this could result in the best manage e' tui ever...
Chapter One: The Pursuit.
The trip to Hogwarts had barely changed since their first trip. Sirius Black sat by the window looking lost as he stared at the scenery that passed. Remus Lupin, trying his best to ignore the head ache reading in a moving vehicle caused him, turning the pages of a worn out book, too enthralled to stop. Peter Pettigrew napping, a copy of the Daily Prophet lying across his slowly rising chest.
"POTTER!"
And of course, James Potter, pushing Lily Evans' buttons till she exploded. The nitwit himself came barreling into the compartment laughing his arse off, followed by an enraged Lily, her face matching her hair.
"You insufferable toe-rag! Didn't your mother even try to train you, you arrogant mutt? I've had it with your antics Potter! Leave. Me. Alone!" She finished starting to storm off, before turning back and throwing a curse James' way. Feeling satisfied with the boils on his not-that-hot face, she smirked. "That's for the first years you prat." With that she turned on her heel and left.
"Gee, thanks for the back up." James pouted at his friends.
"Well, first years is pushing it a bit mate." Remus offered lamely.
"Oh poo Moony you're no fun. Sirius would have gotten a kick out of it, wouldn't you Pads?" He looked hopefully at his best friend.
"Actually, I think it's sort of cruel to scare them so soon, just to get a reaction out of Li-Evans." He didn't even look up from the window. James frowned. Realizing the motion caused him pain he looked pleadingly at Remus, who sighed pulling out his wand.
"What has gotten into you?" James grimaced at his friend. "Aren't we Padfoot and Prongs, best friends, heart throbs and heart stoppers, dynamic duo of pranks and girls?" He replied with a well placed raised eyebrow, which quickly fell. "Padfoot you have not answered and frankly I'm worried! Do you have a fever? Maybe you should lie down." He patted his lap. "Come lay your head on my lap you poor sick fool you." James offered looking quite serious.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm fine you tosser! I just think you should leave firsties out of your non-existent, completely in your head, one sided, mostly with your han-" "We get it!" "Love life." Sirius finished with his trade mark smirk. "I mean, seeing you look doe eyed at her is hard enough on them."
"Not to mention everyone else." Remus teased.
"I do not look at her doe eyed." James grumbled. "I look at her stag eyed." He said cheekily. The rest of his friends groaned.
"Hey! Stag jokes are hard to come by! Come on let me have them when they come! Sirius gets to have all the good dog ones, and the serious/Sirius ones!" James whined.
"That's because I own it." Sirius replied with a flip of his over grown hair. The rest of the group gave him a pointed look. "What?" He exclaimed. They all doubled over laughing, before continuing into conversations about Quidditch, girls, and the up coming exams.
"Well, I'm just glad OWLs are over, all that studying nearly put Moony in a coma!" Sirius quipped. Remus rolled his eyes before snickering.
"Not as bad as the two of you the week before when you realized you hadn't studied at all." Peter and Remus burst into fits of laughter at the memory of James and Sirius reading seven books at once (each), getting caught between taking notes and casting spells.
"Well, the point is it's over." Sirius finished.
"Speaking of over, we better get ready to leave, we should be there soon." James acknowledged, looking out the window.
"Thank Merlin, I'm starving!" Sirius exclaimed, hastily making sure he was in order as the train came to a stop in Hogsmeade Station.
As they piled off the train, Sirius couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic, as he always did on the first day home. Ever sense the end of his first year, Sirius had secretly thought of all of Hogwarts (minus Slytherins) as his home and family, and every year it got truer and truer. It was nice having the security of his year. Growing up with a group of children, all knowing they would rejoin again, it was like having cousins his own age (who he didn't despise). In his first year, many teachers weren't very kind to him, even before he started pranking, but now he was on secretly great terms with all his professors, even having tea in their offices sometimes just to have a chat. Dumbledore, the old coot, he was like some sort of father/grandfather type figure that was the center of the giant family. And then there was Hogwarts. Where he was well fed, and punishment meant writing lines. Where there was an adventure in every corridor, and a passage way behind every portrait. Yes, every year this place felt more and more like home to Sirius Black.
"Come on Pads, we better grab a carriage." James nodded to the horseless carriages. As their group of four scurried towards the carriages, Sirius thought he glimpsed some red and sighed, James would undoubtedly have seen it too. He really didn't want to have to watch the two. No such luck was found when the four Marauders climbed into a carriage which "coincidentally" had a beautiful, red headed, prefect reading a book inside it.
"Why hello Lily Flower! Didn't expect to see you in this carriage." James said smirking, drawing out the 'hello' in a very annoying fashion, which did not go unnoticed by Lily. When it looked like Lily was about to retort with something nasty, Sirius cut in.
"Hello Lily, how was your summer?" He asked with a smile. Not a smirk. Lily looked taken aback for moment, before she opened her mouth. It seemed she couldn't decide who to answer. Sirius let out a breath when she took the high road and replied:
"Hello Sirius, my summer was lovely thanks, how was yours?" She asked politely.
"Nothing big, mostly just played quidditch at James', hung out by his pool a bit as well. Did you do anything exciting by chance?" He liked this.
"Actually I did! Me, my sister, my cousins, and my mum and dad all went to America to see the Beatles play in San Fransisco. It was loads of fun, though at the air port, I couldn't help thinking it would be easier to floo." She spoke animatedly, clearly it had been fun. This is nice. It was different, but he already knew this year would be like that.
"Wow! That sounds amazing! I saw them last year in London, but it must have been amazing in San Fransisco." She beamed.
"You listen to the Beatles?" She raised an eyebrow, before answering his question. "And yes, it was bloody fantastic!" She grinned, then blushed. "Pardon." Sirius laughed at her good manners. Realizing who her company was, she laughed too. It was a great sound. James' eyes went wide, and his jaw went slack.
"To answer your question, you potty mouth, I love the Beatles, though I am more partial to the Who." He said cheekily, making her roll her eyes. Not the same way as usual, James noted.
"Wow, the Sirius Pureblood Black likes muggle music." Lily teased, unknowing of the way the comment made Sirius' insides squirm in discomfort. Steering the attention to the place he should have all along, Sirius passed the conversation to James.
"Well, I'm not the only pureblood in this carriage that likes muggle music, am I James." James seemed to come out of a revere as he blinked twice at Lily before turning to Sirius, who looked at him pointedly, and then back to Lily.
"Uh, right. Right. I'm actually quite the devoted Queen fan myself. Though Bowie is also quite groovy." James replied thoughtfully.
"Oh I love Bowie, he is so talented." Lily gushed, and before either of them could realize it, James and Lily were having a pleasant conversation. This continued for the rest of the carriage ride, and the topics ranged from music, to technology versus magic, to one-two-three favorite.
"Somebody to Love." "Bohemian Rhapsody." They said at the same time.
"Are you kidding?" James asked. "The talent that was put into Bohemian Rhapsody was far superior to Somebody to Love."
"In technical terms sure, but the essence of Somebody to Love could bring you to tears!" Lily argued.
"I hate to cut this short, but we have arrived, and I advise we get a move on before the Sorting starts." Remus interrupted. They all climbed out quickly, grabbing their luggage, and walking into the castle. Sirius walked beside Lily, who was walking slower than the group of hungry boys.
"Here, let me take that for you." Sirius offered.
"Oh no, you have your own stuff to worry about." Lily politely refused.
"Oh come on, I can see you have over stuffed it, and I am twice as physically strong as you." He applied to her reason.
"Well, if you insist." She handed over her luggage.
"By the way, I agree with you about the Somebody to Love song." He said, idly sparking conversation.
"Really? It's your favorite?" She asked surprised.
"No my favorite is Killer Queen, but in the instance of yours and James' favorites, I like a song with a story."
"Bohemian Rhapsody is all story." She said bluntly. He laughed.
"I like a little more mystery."
"Oh I'm not surprised, after all, you and your group of self proclaimed Gods, are also self named the Marauders."
"Self proclaimed?" He gasped in mock horror. "Hello, I was written in the stars." He said as if it were obvious. Lily giggled, she couldn't help it.
"Ah finally, the drop off. Hello there Filch my good man." Filch sneered at him as he put the luggage down.
"Sit with us at dinner?" Sirius asked. "We can talk more about that concert you went to." He grinned as her face lit up.
"Sure." She smiled.
"I can't believe you did this for me Pads, I owe you a million!" James squealed, as Lily made her way to their spot.
"No problem mate." Sirius whispered. "Lily!" He exclaimed much louder. "Lovely of you to join us." He winked at her. She laughed.
"Well, you did invite me." She rolled her eyes. Different, James thought again. This whole day was different. It had started out so similar, but things were changing after all. For the better, he grinned as she sat down directly across from him. After it seemed apparent that James was content to simply stare at Lily, Sirius nudged him and whispered, "Ask her something about herself!" While Lily was talking to Remus about prefect duties.
"Right. So, um Lily, what classes are you going to take this year?" He tried something Lily-ish.
"Don't know yet, I got all Os in everything except Divination, so I can pretty much do whatever." She shrugged.
"Well, what did you discuss with McGonagall during the career meetings? I mean, what do you want to do after Hogwarts." Sirius couldn't help but ask. Lily blushed and looked down to her soup.
"I hadn't really thought about it much," She shrugged stirring the soup with a small spoon. "McGonagall told me my grades were good enough I could do whatever I chose, so I didn't narrow down much last year." She blushed. It was embarrassing to be top in the class and not know what you planned to do with the knowledge. "What about you lot?" She asked, smile returning.
"Aurors." Sirius and James replied automatically.
"Really?" Lily asked in surprise, before nodding her head. "I guess I shouldn't surprised." That made both boys smile.
"What about you Rem?" She asked.
"I want to be a healer." He blushed. It was usually a female career choice, but the young werewolf couldn't help but be fascinated by it.
"That's interesting work! I bet you'd be great at it." She smiled. He grinned back at her.
"What about you Pete?" Remus asked.
"Oh, um, maybe something Ministry related." He said off-hand-ish-ly.
Lily and Remus struck up conversation about healing, and the classes and stages it took to become a full fledged healer. Meanwhile James and Sirius were whispering to each other in a conspirator sort of way.
"At this rate Lily will be my girl by the end of term! How you did this I don't know, but thanks so much! You are the best, best friend ever." James grinned.
"Don't be overly confident, she hates that." Sirius warned.
"She secretly loves it, just like all the other girls we flirt with." James waved him off, but he was less pigheaded the rest of the night. "Mate, do you think she'll be my girl by the time of the Valentines Masquerade ball?" He asked hopefully.
"She might not be your girl." Sirius said, but quickly recovered with, "by then."
"We'll see." James said with a determined, but definitely lopsided, grin. Sirius was gonna say more, but the Sorting was starting.
After the Sorting, the Speech, and a delicious meal, the Marauders made their way to the common room, stumbling through the portrait hole as they laughed sleepily. Climbing the stair case to the 6th year boys dorm was tiring, but they finally made it to the room. Each fell onto his bed as soon as it was within reach. Sirius the last to fall, as his bed was the one farthest away, back by the window. He stared at the stars for a few minutes, wondering what the year would bring, before he lay his head on the pillow, and fell into a deep sleep.
I feel guilty, having written 2460 words on a new story, when I have 8 other stories that need working on! That's how it always is for me, I get a new interest in a new idea, and then I have to make a new story for it, which then ends up with the rest of them: Barely updated and never complete (unless it's a one shot obviously.) Well, here's hoping this turns our better...