When Remus Lupin walked into the compartment that held James Potter the last thing he had expected to see was a girl.
A very pretty girl.
Now, James, as we all know, had been madly infatuated with Lily Evans since third year (when James finally started developing hormones, that however, is a completely different story, not to be told by me) and though he had aimlessly fooled around now and then, he never took it seriously. So to see the way he was interacting with this girl was quite shocking.
James looked up from his conversation with the girl in question to look at his friend. "Moony!" he roared, clapping him on the back and gesturing him to take a seat.
Remus sat, book in hand, and looked at the girl, then back at James. The girl, noticing the lack of introductions, nudged James in the side.
"Ah, right. Well then, Sophia St. Laurent I present to you Remus John Lupin," James said extravagantly with a wave of his hand.
Her eyes danced across his face before she leaned over and offered her hand. He shook it rather lamely, as he was still caught up in studying the girl. It wasn't like Remus to truly ogle girls, but this may have been the exception.
Her eyes her a soft blue, her skin like a china dolls, and hair fell around her in perfect curls. Could someone really be that pretty? But then he saw a startling feature.
A scar. One that ran along her jaw line. He had caught sight of it when she had pushed some loose hair from her face when she started talking to James again.
This became cue for none other than Sirius Black to enter, Peter Pettigrew following loyally behind. Sophia stood up, in order to give the former of the two a hug and a nod hello to Peter.
Sirius, being over enthusiastic as always, lifted her up off her feet and twirled her around. "Could it be? Could it truly be? Our little girl finally going to Hogwarts?" He wiped fake tears from his eyes and sniffled. "She grew up so fast, don't you think Prongsie?"
Sirius sat the girl down and plopped down next to her, while Peter sat with Remus.
"So you two know each other?" Remus asked Sirius.
"Obviously. Sophia lived with James this summer." That of course earned a strange noise from Sophia and a glance from Remus to James.
"Sophia's family knows mine very well. We grew up seeing each other every summer and Christmas holiday. Sophia lived in France for the remainder of her childhood, and while her family was making the move between France and Tyne and Wear she stayed with us. She's a transfer."
Sophia crossed her arms and leaned into the seat, grumbling incoherently.
Sirius continued. "She's a bit bitter."
"Oh, well! You try spending a summer with yourself. You'd have gone mad within an hour if you were even half sane," her voice was tipped with a slight, almost unnoticeable, French accent.
"She's been placed in Gryffindor," James stated. "So we have to keep an eye out for her."
"Or her dad will cut our-"
"Sirius!" she chided.
"- off in the middle of the night."
Remus laughed at the duo's obvious chemistry. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous that Sirius already knew the girl so well. No doubt she'd fall for him then he'd break her heart.
She pulled a book from her rucksack that was on the floor. Noticing the title Remus decided to take a chance and ask her about it.
"Is that Jane Eyre?"
A soft smile played at her lips. "It is indeed. Have you read it?"
"Once or twice," he smirked.
"I try and read it once a year. It's my favorite."
"I don't get how you can understand that stuff, Soph. It's like you were born in the wrong century or something. You just automatically know what they do," James commented.
Ignoring him, Sophia turned back to Remus. "I do prefer Muggle books to those in our world. They are written so differently, with this whole different understanding of how life works," her eyes fluttered shut for just a moment, as if she were dreaming.
"Exactly, I've finally found someone that agrees with me."
The conversation flowed throughout the compartment until they reached Hogwarts. James went to ask Lily out again, and in the commotion of everyone trying to find one another, the other three Marauders almost lost Sophia. Having his inner Gryffindor roar Remus grabbed a hold of her hand so she wouldn't get lost. She didn't seem to mind, just kept her hand in his as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
When the met James at the carriage Sirius smacked him over the head. "We nearly lost Sophia!"
"Sorry. But Lily said-"
"No?" Peter guessed.
James didn't talk for the entire ride to Hogwarts after that.
"Stubborn as an ass, he is," Sophia muttered to Remus at the feast. "Always has been, for as long as I can remember."
Remus coughed on his pumpkin juice and Sophia placed a hand on his arm. He was a bit shocked by the contact, which only made him sputter more.
"Don't die now. I'd hate to loose the first friend I made outside of James and Sirius." She smiled.
"Yeah," he coughed.
The parted ways in the Common Room. It was then that Sophia met none other than Lily Evans. She was sharing her dorm with three other girls, Alice Prewett (ok, so it isn't stated anywhere this was her last name, but it seems to be a trending maiden name for her on FF so play along please?), and Bethan Gold.
Lily seemed to be a nice girl, with hair as fiery as her spirit. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of emerald green, and they tended to sparkle when she got emotional. Alice seemed sweet and shy with close cropped dark brown hair and matching eyes. Bethan seemed like the kind of person who got excited over everything, with her long blonde hair and wide chocolate eyes.
"Hello," Sophia stuck her head in the door and entered nervously.
"Oh, hello there. You must be our transfer. I'm Lily Evans, I'm also Head Girl so I'll be showing you around for the next couple of days," she extended her hand with a smile.
"So, how was your holiday, Lils?" Alice asked as Sophia started to unpack her things.
"Good, my sister was being a pest. I swear she's getting ruder and ruder as time goes by," Lily groaned.
"Lily's muggle born. Her sister doesn't take kind to her being a witch," Bethan filled in with Sophia started to have a questioning look on her face.
"What about you?" Lily asked Sophia. "How was your holiday?"
"I spent it with family friends while my family made the transition from France to England."
"Oh, anyone we know?" Alice asked, hopping onto her bed.
"The Potters'."
"As in James Potter?" Lily's mouth was agape.
"Lily, close your mouth, you'll catch flies." Bethan smirked.
"Yes. James' family has always been close to mine. We spent every holiday with each other since we were four," Sophia pulled her hair up with an elastic.
"Just when I thought you were perfectly nice!" she exclaimed. "Next you're going to be telling me your dating Black!"
Sophia just kept a playful gleam in her eyes as she ran into the bathroom to change. Her uniform was a bit loose, since she had lost weight since it had been fitted almost a month back. Sophia looked in the mirror, combing her hair quickly and tying a black ribbon in her hair.
"If it's alright I think I'll just head straight down to breakfast," Sophia said, already headed down the stairs.
In the common room Remus sat on one of the couches, reading a book. He looked up at her, sighing. "James said I had to wait up here and escort you down to breakfast."
Sophia raised her eyebrows and they started out into the corridor. "Awfully silly, James making you do that."
"James is quite protective of you. At first I thought he fancied you," Remus said honestly.
"James and I are best of friends, and we'd do anything for one another. James is in love with Lily, though."
"And you? Have you ever fancied him?" Remus smiled at her, teasingly.
"Me! Fancy James? I love James, truly I do, but we're like brother and sister, and to think of him as something more, well it's like shagging Peter. Awkward and disturbing," she laughed.
Remus joined in with her as the started the descend down the stairs. After a few moments of silence Sophia looked up at him.
"Do you think I belong here Remus? That I'll be good here?" she whispers. She's trusting him to answer, and he does.
"You seem like the kind of girl who adapts easily. Not necessarily because it's what she wants, but what needs to be done. You do what needs to be done, regardless of what should or should not be."
"Wise words," she whispered.
"Sorry." Remus shrugged.
After a beat or two of silence Sophia took his hand and she smiled at him widely. "Promise me something Remus."
"Alright?"
"Promise we'll be friends forever, no matter what happens. It'll be you and me and James and Sirius and Peter and Lily and Bethan forever," her eyes twinkled.
He liked the way she said that, like she was so sure that life would play out just how she wanted it to. Like she believed that whatever she had just said was written in stone, if he'd only just say yes. So he promised, even if he couldn't help but feel like he was lying.
Oh, he was in for it now.