Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter :( I do wonder how Mrs. Rowling envisioned the marauder era like though
This is just something I wrote and wondered what people thought. . .
"Lily, I don't see Platform 9 3/4, are you sure you didn't make a mistake?" Rachel asked her sister.
"Are all Americans as silly as you are? Of course it's not a mistake, just follow me," Lily laughed as she led Rachel through the barrier between platforms nine and ten.
Everything happened so quickly, it was strange. Rachel thought about what she had found out over the summer as she followed Lily. She and Lily were half sisters; they have the same father, Rick. He had met Rachel's mother in the United States but abandoned her after she became pregnant. He didn't mind that she was a witch but he didn't want a child. He moved to London, which is where he met Lily's mom and they got married. Meanwhile Rachel and her mom, Natalia, had a happy life in California, until the unthinkable happened. Last school year, Rachel's fifth, she went home to find her mom dead. They said she died in her sleep from an unknown cause, but Rachel suspected that they were hiding something from her.
After the funeral, Rachel was forced to go live with her father and his family in London. She found out she had a half sister, Lily, who happened to be a muggle born witch. She also had a stepsister, Petunia, who was absolutely horrible to her and Lily because they were witches. And now she was off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where she knew no one other than Lily. It was hard for Rachel to lose her mom, move to London, and start a new school all in one summer, but this was a new beginning and she was determined to make the most of it.
"I don't see any of my friends, but we can go look for them later. Let's just try to get an empty compartment," Lily said as they struggled to get their trunks on the train.
"These are so heavy!" Rachel groaned as she tried without success to lift her trunk.
"Need help?" came a voice behind her. She turned to see who was talking and found herself facing three boys. The one on the right had brown hair and kind eyes (like my mom's, Rachel thought sadly). The boy in the middle had messy black hair and a mischievous grin. Her eyes lingered a second longer on the last boy; she had to admit, he was extremely good looking, with grey eyes and dark hair falling elegantly about his handsome face. When she noticed that he was looking at her too she quickly turned away, blushing.
Sirius examined the girl standing next to Lily; he had never seen her before, he would have remembered if he had. She made a striking impression in her dark jeans and forest green shirt, with red locks falling on her shoulders and down her back.
"Thinking about asking her out?" Remus mouthed to Sirius, who only shrugged.
He wanted to get to know this girl before he asked her out. Sirius was aware that everyone thought he was a playboy (though he wasn't sure where they got such an idea since he rarely went out with anyone) but he was the complete opposite. He knew how to respect women, unlike his father and brother, and wouldn't go out with anyone for the heck of it.
"No Potter, we don't need any help from you," Lily told the boy in the middle.
Rachel sighed, "C'mon Lily, just let him help you. How else are you going to get it up?"
"Remus, would you please help me?" Lily asked the boy on the right sweetly, ignoring the other boy's hurt look.
"Sure," said Remus as he lifted her trunk.
"I'll get yours," the boy on the left told Rachel.
"Thanks," Rachel said. They all walked onto the train dragging their trunks behind them; Lily was ignoring the boys. They looked for an empty compartment but couldn't find one until they reached the end.
"We're going to have to share," the boy with the messy hair said.
"Find your own," Lily told him.
"But they're all full. This is the only one left."
"Too bad." Lily's dislike of the messy-haired boy was evident.
"Lily," Rachel began, "don't be that way."
"Fine, stay," Lily said grudgingly. They all took a seat.
"By the way, I'm Sirius Black," the grey-eyed boy introduced himself.
"I'm James Potter," the boy with the messy hair said.
"And I'm Remus Lupin," the last boy said.
"I'm Rachel Evans."
"Evans?" James asked.
"Yeah, we're half sisters," Rachel said, she didn't want to go into details.
"No way! Sisters? " James looked shocked.
"Yes Potter, sisters," Lily said annoyed.
"Well, you both do have red hair," Remus said, trying to look for similarities.
"But other than that, they don't look alike," Sirius said.
The boys were looking from her to Lily. Both girls did have red hair, but Lily's was straight and Rachel's was curly. They also had the same almond shaped eyes, but again, Lily's were green and Rachel's were an incredibly dark brown. Rachel felt very uncomfortable at being scrutinized, especially by Sirius. Lily paid no attention to them; she seemed to be good at that.
Lily slapped her forehead and scrambled up. "Rachel, I just remembered that I have to go to a prefect's meeting!"
"I forgot about that!" Remus got up too.
"I'm going to have to leave you with these two idiots for a while, I'm really sorry. I'll try to hurry," Lily apologized.
"Idiots? That's a tad heartless Evans." Sirius feigned a hurt look. Lily left without another word. Remus followed.
Rachel was uneasy about being left alone with people she didn't know, and it didn't help that she was so attracted to Sirius.
"So you're the infamous marauders?" Rachel asked, wanting to break the silence.
"That's us, the rebel geniuses," James said proudly.
"Lily said there were four of you, but I only met three."
"Peter Pettigrew was the fourth one, but we caught him hanging out with some Slytherins so we ditched him," Sirius explained.
"Oh, right," Rachel said, remembering Lily's explanation on house rivalries and how Slytherin produced dark wizards.
"You weren't here last year, were you?" Sirius asked Rachel.
"No, I lived in California. I went to Starlight Academy but I transferred over here this year. What are prefects?" Rachel asked, wanting to steer the subject away from the question she knew would eventually come up.
"They're just students who . . . follow the rules and make everyone else follow them too." James tried to explain.
"Oh, we had something like that at our school but we just called them office aides because they'd help the office keep order in the school."
"Don't tell me you were one of them," Sirius said.
Rachel laughed, "Yeah right! I got in way too much trouble to ever be an aide."
"You're kidding?" James asked.
"Nope, just because I'm Lily's sister doesn't mean I like to follow the rules like she does," Rachel grinned.
"A fellow miscreant, I'm surprised. What kind of things would you do?" Sirius asked.
"Umm, mostly pranks. But we'd go on little adventures too. It was three of us, we were awesome," Rachel reminisced.
"That's how we are too, and not only are we popular, but we pretty much run the school," James bragged.
"A bit full of yourself, aren't you?" Rachel said.
"Prongs is always like that, don't mind him," Sirius interjected.
"Lily told me both of you are the same; 'both arrogant gits' were her exact words."
"She talks about us? Was any of it good?" James asked eagerly.
"Umm, no. Sorry."
"It figures, Lily isn't very fond of us," Sirius explained.
"I couldn't tell," Rachel said caustically, then turned to James. "So is Prongs your nickname?"
"Yeah, we all have nicknames. I'm Prongs, Sirius is Padfoot, and Remus is Moony. Peter was Wormtail but he's not important anymore," James explained.
"Interesting. Is there a reason behind the names or are they just random?"
James looked at Sirius and feigned caution. "Do you think we should trust her?"
Sirius pretended to think for a second, "I don't know, I'm pretty sure it's huge compared to anything she's done," he matched James' expression. Rachel looked confused.
"We're only joking, like I said, you're a fellow miscreant, of course we can trust you," Sirius said, a grin spreading over his face.
"Rachel- I can't call you Evans too so do you mind if we call you Rachel? Ok- anyway, the reason is because I'm an unregistered Animagus, and Sirius is too."
Rachel looked surprised at first, but then she grinned. "Don't look so proud of yourself James, I am too." Their mouths fell open.
"You're lying," Sirius said, looking impressed.
"No, we, my friends and I, figured out how to do it fourth year, which's how we managed to sneak out. I turn into a fairy."
"You beat us; we only did it last year. But you turn into a fairy?" Sirius snickered.
"I needed to be something small so I could fit where my friends couldn't!" Rachel defended herself.
"I'm kidding, that's, er, very cool," Sirius assured her.
"What do you transform into?" she asked the two boys.
"I'm a dog and Prongs is a stag."
"Ah, so that explains your names. What about Remus?"
"I've been thinking," James conveniently cut in, "if you stick with Evans and her friends, you'll get really bored."
"I was afraid of that," Rachel sighed.
"Why don't you join us then?" James asked.
"That's a great idea, we could use another Animagus," Sirius added.
"I don't know. What would Lily do if we suddenly became friends? She really doesn't like you."
"I'm hurt," James teased, "but it's up to you. You can either have fun this year or-"
"Ok, I'm in," Rachel said without hesitation.
"Welcome to the group," Sirius shook her hand, then James did.
"I see you have a broom. Do you play Quidditch?" James asked.
"Yeah, I play Chaser but I'm also a decent Seeker," Rachel said.
"Prongs is a Seeker and I'm a Chaser too! You'll fit right in with us," Sirius told her.
"Unless . . . which house are you in?" James asked.
"Gryffindor, I was sorted over the summer when I had my meeting with Professor Dumbledore," she explained.
"Perfect," Sirius grinned.
The compartment door opened and Lily and Remus walked in.
"I'm sorry I had to leave you with these two," Lily apologized.
"It was no problem. They're actually kind of nice," Rachel told her.
"That's because you don't know them," Lily said.
"She will soon, she's joined our group," Sirius announced.
Lily rounded on Rachel, "what?!"
"Oh Lily, please don't be mad. It's just that they're like me and we get along, and they're . . . well, you understand, don't you?"
Lily sighed. "I suppose. That's what I get for leaving you alone with them. But don't expect me to be their friend too."
"Come on, Evans!" James pressed.
"Ok," Rachel agreed.
"I'm going to find Julie and Melody. These three can show you where to go once we get to the school. See you later." She left.
"So, these two convinced you to join us?" Remus asked with a knowing smile.
"They can be quite charming," Rachel joked.
"Why didn't Lily ever tell us she had a half sister?" Remus asked Rachel.
"That would be because neither of us knew about each other. It's really a long story."
"We have time; it's a long train ride," Sirius said.
Rachel reluctantly consented; she told them her whole story. She was surprised at how much better she felt after talking about it.
"You weren't kidding when you said it was a long story," James said.
Remus shot him a dirty look for being so insensitive. "It must have been hard for you to lose her, not to mention moving all the way over here," Remus sympathized.
"Yeah, it was. But it's getting better already. Lily and her mom are really nice."
"Lily and her mom are nice . . . you didn't add your dad in that sentence," commented Sirius.
Rachel looked at him; it's almost as if he knew. "That's because he's not nice at all."
"I'm sorry. My dad is the same way," Sirius said.
"Then you must be miserable at home," Rachel muttered.
"Actually, I am," Sirius said quietly.
James and Remus glanced at each other; they felt like they were intruding.
"I should change into my robes now, we're almost there right?" Rachel asked.
"I think so. We'll wait outside while you change," Remus offered. Once they walked out Rachel dressed as quickly as she could. These robe things are so weird! Rachel thought. She went to open the compartment door.
"Hey you guys can-" she stopped in mid sentence. James and Sirius had their wands out and were pointing them at Severus Snape. Remus was just standing there not sure what to do.
"Hey Rachel, why don't you join us on our first prank of the year?" James asked.
"What are you two doing?" she asked.
"Just having a little fun with Snivellus," Sirius answered.
"You'd better not hurt him," Rachel warned them, catching on to what they were up to.
"Or what?" Sirius challenged, keeping a watchful eye on Snape.
"Or I'll hex you," Rachel threatened as she pulled out her wand. Sirius and James laughed. Snape looked from Rachel to the boys to his wand on the floor. They were standing in silence, a strong tension in the air.
"Let's go change, we're almost there," Remus said as he pulled James and Sirius into the compartment and closed the door. Rachel looked at Snape.
"You didn't tell me you didn't get along with them," Rachel said.
"You didn't tell me you were their friend," countered Snape.
"I just met them. They won't bother you again when I'm around, as long as you don't do anything to them," Rachel assured him.
"I don't need your protection Ray. But remember what I told you before we came here."
"How can I forget?"
"I'll see you around," Snape said, walking away.
Rachel stood, remembering what Severus told her before they left for school. 'We can't hang out at school Ray, it's just not a good idea.' When Rachel had asked him why they couldn't, he wouldn't give her a straight answer.
Remus opened the compartment door to let Rachel in once they had finished changing. Sirius and James didn't look very happy.
"Part of joining us is going along with what we do, or at least not getting in our way," Sirius said angrily.
"I'm not going to just stand by and watch you guys hurt people! If that's your idea of a prank than I'm out! Lily was right," she said to James. "And you wonder why she won't give you the time of day."
That got James' attention. "You think- you think Evans would go out with me if I stopped hexing people?"
"Among other things, yes," Rachel answered.
"Don't tell me you're buying into this Prongs," Sirius said.
"I reckon she's right. We act like idiots." James told his friend after some thought.
"You're going to listen to her? You're going to change yourself for a girl?" Sirius asked, outraged.
"You'll understand once you fancy someone Padfoot," James said quietly.
"I'll never change for a girl," Sirius said stubbornly, then he turned to Rachel and added, "this is all your fault."
"You're mad because I stopped you from hurting an innocent person? I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be honourable and whatnot."
"Snape isn't innocent! And-"
"Stop you two. Rachel is right Padfoot. Just drop it." Remus interrupted. Sirius was furious.
This first chapter is really long, I'm sorry! I just needed to introduce some things and yeah, but I hope you like it! Please review, this is my first fanfic!