This is not only a story of love. It's a story of death, friendships, humor, betrayal, questions, mysteries, and heroism.
It's the story of four boys. One, spoiled, the apple of his parent's eyes. Another, treated horribly as a child and recklessly wild. The third, marked by a curse. The fourth... awkward and silent, not really fitting in.
It's a story of six girls. One ordinary, made to be extraordinary. The second cheerful and bashful. The next three, doomed to be compared to one another. One shines, one hides, and one is polar opposite of the other two. The sixth had a life torn by misery, with even more ahead.
It's a story of family.
oOoOoOoOo
Sirius Black, fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was a slight peeved. His younger brother Regulus was starting school, and Sirius was given instructions to keep an eye on him, make sure he's on the train. Or else.
Now, he normally didn't listen to his parents, but his father was feeling nasty that morning, and gave Sirius a preview of what would happen is 'Reggie' got lost.
Swearing under his breath, Sirius pushed through the crowd on Platform 9/3, hoping that he could see a little devil with black hair and grey eyes. "If only James was here... he's probably on the train, that bugger." He thought.
"Mudblood, watch where you're going!" a snotty voice rang out.
Sirius thought at once, "Bingo," and then, realizing that the kid spat something back at his brother, "Shit."
"Maybe if you didn't hold your head so damn high!" a small girl with long brown hair crossed her arms.
"Well I, unlike you, are a Pureblood, and don't have to answer the requests of Mudbloods." Regulus Black spat back.
"Hey, Reg." Sirius slid in front of his brother. "What's going on?"
"I was about to ask the same thing, Black" A tall man walked over and knelt down to the little girl.
Sirius gulped. He recognized this guy. He was an Auror, and from what Sirius had heard from his father, a muggleborn one. He was certain that the little girl would make up some lie and her father (brother?) would pound him to soup.
"That boy," the little girl started, "Knocked into me and sent my things flying. Then he called me a Mudblood, 'cause I asked him if this was the Platform, and then decided to say he didn't have to do anything that I asked him to do because he was a Pureblood."
"Reg, go on the train. Your stuff's already on, you brat." Sirius said with disdain, already expecting a punch.
"Wait 'till Mother hears about this!" Reg ran on the train nonetheless. Sirius turned to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulders, and winced.
It was the tall guy. "Can you make sure my little sister gets to Hogwarts without getting into any trouble? She has a bit of a temper..."
"Er... what?"
"Black, my little sister just insulted a future Slytherin, and I know you're one of the better Black's, so I decided to ask, and yeah. Just keep an eye on her until she gets off the train, okay?" The man leaned down and flexed one of his arms menacingly.
"Sure..." Sirius said.
"Bye Richard!" The girl hugged her brother around the neck tightly. "I'll write tonight."
"Bye, Evan. Don't hesitate to write every single day." Richard said.
Sirius waited awkwardly as they finished their goodbyes, and led the girl onto the train. "Who names a girl Evan? Honestly... parents..." he thought.
"Sirius! Sirius! Wait for me!" a small blond boy ran up to the two.
"Hullo, Peter. Where's Jamie and Remy?" Sirius muttered.
"Who's she?" Peter asked.
"A girl whos freaky brother asked me to watch over. So where's Jamie and Remy?"
"Oh yeah, this way!" Peter ran down the halls.
"Oh bloody hell; this day just keeps getting better." Sirius groaned. "Come on, Evan."
"My name's not Evan."
"Whatever, come on." Sirius ran after Peter, with 'Evan' running after him.
oOoOoOoOo
Lily Evans sat bored in her compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Brushing her red hair from her eyes, she saw that three of her best friends were with her. May Zelan, with her extremely long black hair and deep brown eyes speckled with blue, was stunning. Except nobody ever saw that part of May. They only saw her as a smart girl, triplet sisters with two of the hottest girls of Hogwarts. May was currently sitting across from Lily, reading, her Hogwarts robes already on, Gryffindor emblem on her chest standing out amidst the black.
Alice Carroll was sitting next to May. Her round, happy face framed by dirty-blond hair. Another Gryffindor, she wasn't the smartest, in most subjects, but excelled in Charms and Herbology. Though she was talking about Quidditch, Lily could see all she was thinking about was Frank Longbottom, a Griffindor boy in fourth year, same as Lily and her friends.
She was talking to June Zelan, another third of the Zelan triplets. She was the outspoken one of the three. Her black hair stopped at her back, and she had blue eyes speckled with brown (they aren't identical triplets), but that was all she shared with her sisters. Her long bangs were dyed (magically, of course, she was half-blood) bright yellow and red. Her nails were painted in rainbow shades. She was once caught in a broom closet with Peter Pettigrew, one of the Marauders. What June saw in him, nobody knew. But she wasn't the jump-from-one-guy-to-the-next girl. She liked her relationships to last a month or two. But June was in Hufflepuff, so Lily guessed that made her different then the Gryffindor girls and their tastes.
"No way Wasps could of gotten to third place in the standings withough magical means! The Harpies are so much better, and they only got fourth!" Alice exclaimed.
"No! The Wasps can beat the Harpies any day!" June said.
"Do you guys even know what a Harpie is?" May asked.
"May, these are the girls who thought a spork was a lazy way to say 'salted pork.'" Lily joked.
"Don't forget April."
The door opened with a loud sliding. "She could never forget me, May! I'm the sunshine of her life!" April Zelan burst in, clearly happy about something. April Zelan was, of course, the third Zelan triplet. She was random at times, but guys could look over that. Mainly all they looked at her was to invite her to a broom closet or the nearest empty classroom. Short, spunky black hair spun wildly as she bounced in, her blue eyes shining. Her spinning began to make everybody slightly queasy watching her. She was Keeper on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and a few Bludgers to the head probably caused this behaviour.
"Of course, April. Because her eyes just light up when she sees you," June said dryly.
"No! They only shine for her Jamie!" April stopped spinning and put her hand to her heart. "Oh my, I'm Miss Lillian Elizabeth Evans and I hate James Potter, but I really love him!"
Alice grinned and put her arm around Lily in a clear impersonation of James. "Oh Evans, you light up my life! I, James Harold Potter, want to marry you!"
April let off a high pitched giggle. "Of course, Jamie, you sizzly piece of man-flesh!"
May hid her face in her book. "Tell me that when I take this book away, I will be in France, with respectable sisters and a really hot boyfriend."
April and June kneeled infront of their sister and grabbed the book. "Sorry love, you're stuck with us!" June said while April leafed through the book, and cleared her throat.
"Dear Diary,
I'm off to Hogwarts! It's fourth year, and I'm terribly excited." Apirl made a face. "April isn't in the compartment, of course, probably snogging some guy senseless. Alice and June are bickering about Quidditch, Lily's daydreaming. How do I know? Her eyes glaze over, and sorta become a different shade of green. I missed all of this. And the Marauders, of course. Remus, Sirius, James and Peter. Remus... OMIGOSH. I just remembered! At the end of third year, he asked me if he could meet me on the first Friday of fourth year at the lake! I said yes! I'm so-"
"So what?" Lily asked, peering around April's shoulder.
"Theres a big line of ink." Alice said.
"No duh, guys, that's when you interrupted me." May grumbled, blushing slightly.
"So... you like Remus?" April asked.
Blushing, May nodded.
"That's great! A double wedding!" April squealed.
The door opened slightly, and two people stuck their heads in.
"Double wedding? For who?" Sirius Black asked.
"James, and Lily, of course!" Alice said, avoiding the book that Lily threw.
"Who else?" Asked Peter Pettigrew.
"May and Remus!" April exclaimed happily.
"APRIL!" May screamed and dove for her dim-witted sister.
"We just need some mud." Sirius remarked.
"For what, Black?" Lily asked.
"Hello, it's a catfight! WITH TWO TRIPLETS!" Sirius clapped his hands, then slowed when he saw the murderous glares being sent by all the fourth-year girls. "Erm... Peter, lead away! To Jamie! And Remy! Come, Evan!" Him and Peter began sprinting down the hallway, revealing 'Evan'.
"My name's not Evan." She said to the girls, then looking down at May, she asked, "So I take it you like Remus, whoever he is?"
"Yeah..." May blushed slightly.
"You don't tackle her!" April pouted from the headlock May put her in.
"That's 'cause I'm a first-year. And pretty cute." The first-year said happily.
"Well... what's your name?"
"EVAN! COME ON!" Sirius' voice bellowed.
"Sorry, gotta jet!" Evan, or whatever her name is, ran off screaming, "My name's NOT EVAN!"
June coughed. "That was... odd."
"Tell me about it." Lily moaned.
oOoOoOoOo
"I found him, guys!" Peter announced, his short blonde hair just reaching his gray-blue eyes. Panting, he added, "He also has a guest."
"Oh, really? I don't see him, or the guest!" James Potter stood up. "The train left 10 minutes ago. Where is he?" Running his hand through messy black hair, he paced. He took off his glasses, cleaned them with his shirt, and put them back on, his brown eyes looking confused through the glass. He was tall for fourteen, but pretty nimble. You had to be, if you wanted to be a Seeker on a Quidditch team.
"James, relax. Probably got 'distracted' by some third-years." Remus Lupin stood up as well, the tallest of the four boys. Hair that was a mix of brown and sandy-blond showed look dull against his bright blue-green eyes. He was the smart one of the boys, the quiet one. James was the sporty jokester. Sirius was the pranking, random, childish at times ladykiller. Peter was the glue that stuck them together, with some surprisingly good ideas, though his head could probably be the top part of a hot-air balloon.
"No I didn't." Sirius walzted in, a disgruntled first year behind him. "Evan didn't want to leave the girls, but her brother freaks the living hell out of me."
'Evan' threw herself on a chair and sighed. "He's overprotective. There is a ten year difference between us, after all. And my name's not Evan!"
"There's overprotective and there's obsessing." Sirius said. "I swear, he's a more normal version of Hulk Hogan! Just brown hair, blue eyes, tall, and not TOO muscular, just enough to scare a guy."
"Sirius, what did he do?" Remus asked, shaking his head.
"He asked is I could escort Evan here-"
"MY NAME'S NOT EVAN!" The first year screamed, her hair turning a fiery red.
"Holy shit!" James shouted. Remus blinked a few times, backing away slowly, Sirius hid behind James, and Peter excused himself to go to the boy's room.
The little girl blushed, and turned very shy. "S-sorry... it's just I don't like it when people don't listen to me after a while, and I did tell him."
Remus groaned slightly. "How many times?"
"Four or five." She answered.
James sat next to her, and noticed her hair was deep brown again. "So what IS your name?"
"Anne Heart." Anne said. "You can call me Annie, if you ever need to."
"Wait... so why did your brother call you Evan?" Sirius asked, feeling like a moron.
"My middle name." Annie shrugged.
"Your middle name's Evan?" James asked.
"It's Evangeline." Annie shrugged.
"That's a mouthful," Peter said, in the doorway. "But still...why Evan?"
"My brother's fiancee's name is Annie. He doesn't want anybody to get confused. He's an Auror, not a rockect scientist."
James put an arm around her. "So, Anne Evangeline Heart, I have an offer."
She looked at him oddly, and said, "As long as it's not ways to win a certain redheaded green-eyed Gryffindor."
James laughed. "No, not like that. Just thinking, guys, don't we need a small kid to fit into small spaces? Pranks against Slytherins, and such."
Annie rolled her eyes. "I might be Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, and double-cross you."
Remus let out a bark of laughter. "If only it was that easy. The hat told me I'd be good in Ravenclaw, but suit better for Gryffindor. I begged him for Gryffindor. It seems he favors us. If only I knew I'd be with these three guys for the next seven years."
"And Frank!" Peter chipped in.
"Yes, Frank. If he graduates with his brains undamaged I'd be amazed." Remus sighed. "He's sweet on Alice."
Sirius' and Annie's eyes lit up. James was shocked on how similar they looked when they got an idea.
"Remy, I heard news from a little bird!" Sirius got up and danced around Remus, who looked distusted.
"So did I, Remus, I know who's sweet on YOU!" Annie danced with Sirius.
Peter watched in amazement. He nudged James, saying, "They could be twins. Look at them!"
"I know," James whispered back. "It's scary."
"Her name just rolls off the tounge, does it not, Annie?" Sirius pranced.
"Indeed it does, Sirius, named after a marvelous month!" Annie laughed.
"Shes a marveling magestic mystery!" Sirius proclaimed.
Remus shook his head. "I'm sorry guys, but I'm meeting May on Friday, and I won't have any time for this marveling magestic mystery named after a marvelous month."
Annie gaped. Sirius froze in shock. "YOU NITWIT!" They screamed together. "IT'S MAY!"
"She has a good chunk of her diary dedicated to you, Mister." Annie added.
Remus stared. "I know, I know she agreed to meet me, but I thought maybe she pitied me, or something, and wow. Wow."
Sirius leaned over and whispered to Annie, "He's lost his marbles."
She nodded. "He's off his rocker. Completely insane."
"So..." Sirius sighed.
"Can you guys tell me people I should know at Hogwarts?" Annie asked.
James smirked. "Let me tell you about Severus Snape."
"Or Snivellus, as we call him." Peter added.
"He's a greasy slimeball obsessed with dark arts and curses. And hates muggleborns." Sirius chimed in.
Annie's eye's darkened, which made Sirius at her differently for a second. She did have long brown hair, but it was very dark. Her brother had light brown hair, nearly blond. His hair was curly. Her's was pretty strait. He had tanned skin, her's was like snow, with a few freckles on her nose. The only thing that he saw in common was their eyes. Blue like a river, with a ring of dark blue around the outside and a ring of brown, almost gold, on the inside surrounding the pupil. But unlike her face, her eyes told him everything. He could look at them forever.
"Sirius?" James asked. "What do you think?"
Sirius shook himself. "What?"
"Annie said that we should dye his hair blond, and curly and long, then transfigure his outfit into a ballerina's tutu, and make the spell last a day! If anybody tries undoing it, it happens to them too!" Peter said excitedly.
Sirius looked at Annie again. She looked back up at him. He put an arm around her shoulder. "Kid, you're gonna go far."
Nobody saw the Marauders for the rest of the ride, but occasionally heard crazed laughter coming from their compartment, then a small voice saying, "Geez Si, you've gone nuts!"