Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you recognise. They all belong to the great J. K. Rowling. All I own are the OC's and the plot. sigh
Chapter one
Isabel Banks stepped onto platform nine and three quarters, emerging from the barrier between platforms nine and ten. A big smile spread over her face as she laid her eyes on the steam engine ready for the journey, the destination of which was her second favourite place in the world. The steam engine resembled a dark red monster from her dreams, puffing smoke in all directions. She just so loved this sight. She inhaled the familiar smell and searched over all the heads for a familiar face.
"Searching for Evans?" she heard someone say behind her. She turned around to find that it was James Potter smiling warmly at her. She smiled at him in return taking in his impressionable appearance. With his messy black hair, hazel eyes behind his glasses sparkling with mischief and his tall and well built frame, James potter was quite good looking indeed. All the girls at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry would heartily agree to that.There were girls swooning over James the Quidditch player, James the ultimate braveheart, James the true and loyal friend, James the transfiguration prodigy, and of course James Potter the danger to Severus Snape.
Isabel and James were not as one would call the best of friends, but they did get along together very well. Isabel could recall the number of times she had played mediator in the historic fights between James and her best friend Lily Evans. Now Lily and James here shared quite a unique relationship. There was James who was so hopelessly in love with Lily Evans and then there was Lily who just couldn't stop yelling herself hoarse whenever James came in her line of vision. He was crazy about her and she loathed him beyond any belief. It was impossible for anybody to persuade Lily to change her mind about James and give him atleast one chance. Isabel had tried that umpteen times before. And it was also impossible to drive James' mind away from Lily and make him give up on her and stop asking her out or showing off whenever he spotted her. Isabel had tried that umpteen times before too. I guess now, one can see why this relationship was unique.
James Potter's affection for Lily Evans intrigued all, mostly the girls. What puzzled them was the fact that James a very handsome and popular boy of Hogwarts could fall for an 'ordinary' girl like Lily. Mind you though, the only thing 'ordinary' about Lily Evans were her looks. She had flaming red hair that reached upto her her shoulders which was usually tied up in a knot behind her neck, a petite frame and startling almond shaped green eyes. She wasn't stunning or anything, but definitely had an aura about herself and a much likeable personality. Also Lily was the cleverest witch of seventh year, which made her stand out of the ordinary. She did study her eyes out, just so that she would be on par with James and his two best friends Sirius black and Remus lupin.
James Potter was rarely seen without the company of his two friends. Also there was a third one, though less popular than the other three and usually shunned to one side. His name happened to be Peter Pettigrew.
Sirius Black. Ahh what could one say about him? He was the one who matched James' popularity, or probably got even more of it, what with his reputation of being a shameless flirt and an absolute womanizer. Sirius Black was the one who had looks to kill for and those that could kill. He had a tall and athletic built, long dark hair that fell over on his forehead making him look too cute to be true and stormy grey eyes, which were a weapon strong enough to drown any girl. He was handsome and By Lord he knew it. Sirius believed in using his looks to the best he could. He dumped his girlfriends every second week. Flavour of the month? Try flavour of the week! He was effortlessly intelligent just like James and belived that studying was a sheer waste of his precious time and energy which he would rather spend in a broom cupboard shagging one of the brainless bimbos of the school.
Then of course there was the smart and well mannered, mama's boy Remus Lupin. He was the more responsible one who got the prefect's batch, excellent in studies, but not as naturally as James and Sirius. He did have to put a lot of hard work in it. He wasn't as popular as James and Sirius but did get his fare share of attention too, espescially from the fairer sex. Remus was glad he had found three best friends in his year. Three loyal and true friends. The ones who did not desert him on knowing his 'furry little problem' (as James liked to call it), but instead devised an extremely dangerous plan just to help him. The problem with Remus was that he was a werewolf. A fact that set him apart from others, which probably was the reason why he seemed so secluded or drawn out to some (Isabel and Lily included).
Remus transformed into a fully fledged werewolf on every full moon night. To give him company and prevent him from biting himself his three friends had become animagi. A feat extremely difficult to achieve, but their determination and intelligence had aided them to go all the way. Remus had never felt more grateful, shocked or angry in his entire life.
And then ofcourse there was Peter Pettigrew. A small watery eyed, pudgy faced boy. Usually shunted to one side and seemingly a misfit in the mauraders. He was not much popular, and usually didn't speak a lot. Makes one wonder how he landed with the other three, right?
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were inseparable. Everyone thought them to be the coolest people of Hogwarts (with the exception of Peter of course). Together the four of them had given themselves a nickname, 'the Mauraders'. That's what they called themselves. Many thought this was a strange name, but loved it anyway.
"Yea. Did you see her?" Isabel asked James, "Oh but of course you will have, right?" she added laughing.
Now Isabel Banks was was herself not quite bad. She had waist long honey blonde hair, olive skin, baby blue eyes and a good figue with curves and planes just at the right places. Isabel was a muggleborn just like her friend Lily
"My eyes can't rest without spotting her." James said with a wink, "there she is." He said pointing over to a group of seventh year girls amidst who was a girl with flaming red hair.
"Still not given up on her?" Isabel asked teasingly, smiling at James though she knew what the answer was going to be.
"Aah Isabel you dissapoint me!" said James with a look of mock dissapointment on his face, "I thought you would have grown wiser in these holidays, but you don't seem to have!"
"Hey! And why is that?" Isabel asked indignantly.
"How many times have i told you before, that James potter giving up on Lily Evans is nothing short of impossible?" James said grinning.
Isabel laughed throwing her head back, "You are impossible James!" she said.
"Isa!" Isabel heard Lily's voice call out.
She turned to see Lily running towards her with a wide smile on her face.
"Hey Lils! It's so good to see you!" Isabel squeeled as Lily smothered her in a tight hug.
"Yea it is!" Lily said holding Isabel at an arms length and looking at her admiringly, "You look so pretty" she said.
"She sure does." Isabel heard a deep seductive familiar voice say.
"Hey Sirius!" Isabel said smiling at Sirius Black who was walking over to them, "how were you're holidays?" she inquired.
"Pretty lousy." Sirius replied with a dark look on his face.
Isabel then instantly regreted asking this question. She knew that Sirius never got along with his parents. He never could indentify with their principles of the superiority of pure bloods over muggleborns, or 'mudbloods' as they frequently were called. Also the fact that Sirius was the first Black heir to be sorted into gryffindor, as all the people in the family were members of slytherin was infuriarating to them.
"Until I moved out that is" Sirius said.
"You moved out?" Isabel asked surprised.
"Yep. I've got an apartment in London. Some uncle of mine left it in my inheritance." Sirius said indifferently.
"Come on Isa lets get on the train." Lily said completely ignoring Sirius and James.
"Alright there Evans?" James asked trying his best to smile as charmingly as he could and ruffling his already messy hair with his hand.
"I was until now." Lily replied coolly, "anyways Isa come on, let's get away from here." She said giving James and Sirius a look of complete dislike.
"Bye guys!" Isabel called out to them as she was being dragged away by Lily.
"Padfoot don't you think Evans was a bit kinder to me this time?" James asked Sirius as soon as the two girls were out of earshot.
"Yea she was." Sirius replied absently not really paying attention. His mind was somewhere else or on someone else to be exact.
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Isabel and Lily climbed inside the Hogwarts express and heaved their trunks after them.
"So, how were your holidays?" Isabel asked Lily.
"They were fine," Lily replied as she and Isabel both searched for an empty compartment dragging their trunks behind them, "except for my darling sister Petunia."
"Oh! What did she do now?" Isabel asked perfectly aware of the fact that Lily and her sister never were on good terms.
"She brought home her stupid boyfriend Vernon. He looked a bit intimidating you know. And she kinda of purposely ignored me when he was there. As if I crave for her attention!" Lily scoffed.
"Ah. So is she serious about this Vernon guy?" Isabel asked as Lily closed the door of the second last compartment finding it to be full.
"Yeah, she looked like she was" Lily said as she opened the door of the last compartment to find it empty.
"Where's Claudia?" Isabel asked as Lily and she plopped down on the seats.
"Dunno. But yeah I got an owl from her telling that she went to Paris this summer." Lily said.
"Oh yeah I know. She was really excited about it." Isabel said.
"Yeah. And that probably was because she couldn't wait to meet to meet more goodlooking guys." Lily said with a faint smile on her face.
Isabel smiled too. Claudia Turner could never get tired of feasting her eyes on men. She was an adorable character though, Isabel thought. She was smart, outgoing and possesed talents of flirting which could match Sirius'. Though one could never guess these traits of her personlity just by looking at her. Claudia was short and very thin. Thin to such an extent that she looked frail at times. She had snow white skin, with deep brown eyes and straight black hair upto her shoulders. Inspite of her tiny appearance she was very loud. As a result of her talking habits she landed herself in detention many times.
Isabel, Lily and Claudia were inseparable. They shared everything, EVERYTHING with each other. Over the years their relationship had grown to such a level, that they completely understood each other. They did have their share of disagreements and arguments, but they could never really stay without each other.
"Hey guys! Miss me?" Lily and Isabel turned towards the door to find Claudia standing looking happy as ever.
"Hey Dee!" both Isabel and Lily greeted and stood up to hug their best friend.
After getting tight hugs from both Isabel and Lily, Claudia sat down beside Lily and let out a sigh.
"It's so good to back!" she exclaimed looking cheerful.
"Yeah it is." Isabel agreed.
"Hey and by the way Lily. I invited the mauraders in our compartment; they'll be coming any time now." Claudia said looking at Lily with a wide grin on her face.
Lily groaned out aloud.
"Hey come on Lils. They're not that bad." Isabel said.
"I agree that Remus and Peter are not. But you can't expect me to spend the rest of the journey with the two idiotic ring leaders of the group!" Lily said looking extremely put off.
"Aww come on. They are cool. Its great fun to be with them" Claudia exclaimed.
"Sure" Lily said rolling her eyes.
"Well I don't disagree with the fact that Sirius Black is arrogant. But James is really great once you get to know him." Isabel said.
Though Isabel and Sirius were on speaking terms, she never really appreciated the way he treated girls. She had great self respect, and couldn't believe the girls of the so called 'Sirius Black Fan Club' could so easily lay aside theirs and date Sirius only to get dumped later. The worst thing was that these girls even after being dumped, they never gave up on Sirius. Instead they boasted limitlessly about the night they had spent with Sirius in the broom cupboard where he had snogged them sensless.
"You must be joking! James? Great?" Lily said looking at Isabel her eyes shining with disbelief.
"You need to give him a chance Lily!" Isabel said for god knows what'th time.
"You know I will never do that!" Lily said looking at Isabel angrily. She then turned her face and kept looking determindly out of the window.
Isabel sighed. Even the mention of James' name could get Lily upset. Isabel wondered to herself about when Lily would realise that she and James were meant to be...
A/N: So what do you think? Please review!