Hey everyone :)
I think I should warn all of you guys before you start reading. English is not my first language and I do NOT have a beat for this story (yet). I tried to cover this up a little by making my OC a foreigner so every mistake here could be blamed on the fact that her English isn't perfect either. But I try to find someone to help me here as soon as possible. Should anyone be interested please let me know :)
And as always, nothing here is my own, I'm just using it for some entertainment and make no money with this!
10/30/2015: About the time I started writing this story a lot of chance happened in my life and somehow writing didn't seem that interesting anymore.
It's been over two years, going to three now, that I started this story and I came back to it purely by accident. And I remembered how many ideas I used to have for this little project.
I'm not sure I can get it all back together but I think I want to try again to write this, and I hope that you guys have enough patience with me while I figure out how exactly this is going to work.
I also found a lot of spelling mistakes myself here that I'm trying to fix but I'm afraid that it still won't be perfect before I can find someone willing to help me with that. Please don't be mad about it.
„Gott verflucht noch mal!" I had never been the one for cursing. But waking up late on your first day back at school was never a good sign. Especially if your first lesson was transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. This was my sixth year at Hogwarts, and this was the sixth time that I was going to be late on my first day. Well, the twelfth actually, if you count the times after winter break. So I guess I should know better by now.
"I told you to get up like half an hour ago!"
I send a death glare at my best friend while I tried to get my hair into something, that looked remotely like an actual hairstyle but my hair and I always had this kind of love-hate relationship. So I decide for a high ponytail, grabbed my blouse out of my trunk, put it on and took a last look at the mirror. My light brown hair looked at least a little tamed and without time to put on any make-up I looked like the perfect little wallflower. At least a few high heels to make me look a little taller than my 5"3 would have been nice but that would have been against the school rules.
"Oh come on Kat, we already missed breakfast, can we please hurry now?"
"No one asked you to wait D.!" I snapped at her. "I sure don't want to be responsible for ruining your perfect little image in front of the teachers!"
Okay, so I'm not a morning person and I shouldn't be yelling at the only real friend I've got here when all she was doing was being nice to me.
It was always hard to adapt to being back here. I always spend the summer back at home in Germany with my friends and family and things there were a really different.
Unfortunately, there was no magical school in Germany - something about little magical genetic heritage there - so when I got old enough to start my life within the magical community it was either ignoring my magical talents or choosing a school in another county. It had obviously come to the second of those options. So I had ended up in an unfamiliar country without even being able to fully speak the language.
That had been a little over five years ago and Dinah had been my rock back then. The sorting hat must have had thought that it was kinda brave to come here under my circumstances, so I had been sorted into Gryffindor just like Dinah. Who had had enough pity with me to take me under her wing. She had helped me with the language part and truth to be told with every other part too. I wasn't exactly a model student like her and I tented to let myself get distracted easily.
The bright side was that my best friend knew exactly that my moody moments were nothing she should take seriously. She just looked impatiently and shook her head. "Get moving Kate!"
Another thing to get used to again, my real name was Käthe but Dinah had never been able to pronounce that right so around here I was Kat for everyone. The only person around here that called me Käthe was Michael Berdel another student from Germany but honestly? He was a little creepy so I stayed away from him as far as I could.
"Yes, yes, fine, let's go!" Dinah was out of the room before I had the chance to react leaving me no choice but to hurry after her.
The halls were already empty when we reached our classroom. Dinah let out a loud sign, she hated nothing more than being late or drawing attention to her in any other way. Sometimes it was hard to understand, but for now I had to live with it. That probably why she let me open the door. So she could slip in behind me. Hoping no one would notice.
"Miss Bauer!" Professor McGonagall looked like she was ready to kill someone. Whoever had managed to get her this mad so short after the start of the first lesson was a question to me, but this was so not working in my favor. "You are ten minutes late! I think that would make ten point from Gryffindor, am I right?" The undertone in her voice left no room for any kind of discussion. So I answered in the only way I could. "Yes professor!"
For a moment I wanted to point out that I wasn't the only one who was late but thought better of it. D. would have killed me if I did.
"You may take a seat!" Professor McGonagall Looked like she wanted to say a lot more but decided against it. I took this as my opportunity and sat down on an empty spot in the middle of the classroom, Dinah following right behind me.
I could still feel Professor McGonagall's eyes on my back. Great, now she was mad at me. Instant of just being annoyed, like usual when I was late. "I should have stayed in bed!"
"So we would have lost even more points?" I decided to ignore Dinah's words, just like the disapproving look that Lily Evans sent me. I rolled eyes. Lily was a nice girl, she was practically friends with everyone - well except maybe James Potter and his mighty gang of misfits - but she had this annoying habit of following every rule that this school had. She was the only other Muggel-born in our class, next to me, and for her that meant that she had to prove herself in every possible way. She had to have the best notes and I'm absolutely positive, that she had never missed a single minute of class.
I opened my bag and started to put my stuff out on the desk. A few inches permanent, my quill and the Muggel-notebook that my mother had given me during summer break. The first few sides were already filled with a few sketches and entries. It wasn't exactly a diary. More something like a... Well something to keep me busy. I opened the first side and look at the beautiful handwriting of my sister. She had taken the opportunity to write me a little note. 'To help me get through the coming year!' she had said. She had even used the few words English she had actually learned: "Smile. Don't kill anyone!" I actually had to smile while I read the words. My sister defiantly knew me.
I heard someone laugh behind me and instantly knew that I had made a huge mistake in choosing this seat. I knew that voice all too well. Because you could hear it every evening in the common room. I was sitting right in front of Potter and his friends. Which meant that Professor McGonagall would be looking a lot more in our direction. Which also meant that I had at least to look like I was paying attention. Great!
I looked again at the words my sister had written for me and signed before I closed the notebook again.
The other problem with sitting in front of the self-named marauders was my curiosity. I couldn't help but listen in on their conversation.
"..would we need to do that?" that was obviously Black. He had this remarkable rough voice that had haunted my dreams more than once. Each of them was handsome in his own way but for me, Black was by far the most attractive. Potter was defiantly good looking but he had something more boyish about him while Sirius had this whole rebel-attitude. Remus Lupin was the grown up among them. If you liked the smart and reliable guy with just the right sense of humor. Between all four of them he was surely the best choice if you were looking for a serious relationship. Peter Pettigrew was more like the boy next door. He looked nearly plain next to Potter and Black. And he didn't have this thoughtful aura around him. But he didn't look bad either. He was a little smaller than his friends and he didn't manage to get the attention of the whole room just by walking in it. Sometimes I thought that he hated it. That he hated it to fade into the back just like I did. But he had defiantly made the best out of it.
Peter had the habit of picking up the pieces that his friends left behind. At least when it came to the ladies. Every girl in this school dreamed about the Marauders, or at least one of them. And after some time spend with Black or Potter – who's relationship never lasted longer than a few weeks – and getting dumped in a really unpleasant way it was easy for Peter to play the good guy. Comforting them and doing just the right things to make them fall for him. He was really good at this, that I had to leave him.
"Because it would be the nice thing to do, Pads!" James voice brought me back to reality and reminded me, that I was still ears dropping into their conversation.
"Since when are we being nice?" This time it was Remus who answered Sirius. "Since Melissa broke up with me because of the way you acted around her sister!" I could particularly picture Remus reproachful look when I remembered that story.
"Just consider it your good deed for the day Padfood!" I could hear Black snort while I asked myself for the second time today what the hell the deal with this ridicules Nicknames was that they had given themselves.
"Psst! Hey!"
I meant really there was no recognizable sense behind them and Peters nickname even seemed a little insulting to me. They had started to use them last year and no one ever figured out where this came from.
"Hey!"
Some kind of inside joke or something.
"Psst!"
But if I were Peter I would surely feel offended by it. He, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind. Maybe he was more confident than I was? Well I guess that was likely. I wasn't exactly the most self-confidant person. I could stand up for myself if I had to but I preferred to stay out of situations that could end up being embarrassing for me.
"Psst!"
Okay, whoever's attention they wanted to get, this person seriously needed to react before they started to draw Professor McGonagall's attention to themselves. Even I was starting to look for that person. For a moment I thought that Potter was trying to get Lily Evans attention again – like he did at least once a week, if not more often, since she turned him down in our third year. I think she hurt his pride back then and this turned into some really weird kind of obsession he had for her. He still dated other girls but no one doubted that he would dump each of them for Lily. One of the reasons I had for settling my teenage-crush on Black instant of him. Not that he would have been any better but… I shook my head to leave this thought behind me and made sure that Lily was still sitting in front of the class and would never hear Potter. So who's attention could he want then?
Something hard hit the back of my head, interrupting my observation. I turned around to find the one responsible for this but the only thing I could find was a grinning James Potter. "Finally!" he exclaimed. Remus hit him in the side at once, sending him a look that most clearly said: 'Keep quiet!' James seemed to see his point and lowered his voice. "I was starting to think you were deaf!"
He was starting to think… "Did you just 'Psst' me?" I realized how dumb that sounded after I finished the words but I was too surprised by this to care at this moment.
Potter seemed to think that this was a perfectly normal situation and shrugged. "Sure. Bauer, right? You are the one with the strange accent!"
I'm not entirely sure but I think I must have starred at him for at least a minute asking myself if he really just asked me that. We have been in the same class for the last five years. I think I know every name of every person in our house and he just asked me… This was ridicules! I shook my head and nodded finally. "Yea! How can I help you?"
He looked at me bewildered. "You just did!" I must have looked as confused as I felt because he decided to explain this a little future. "When you came in, I really thought McG. would give us detention for the rest of the year till you interrupted her!"
Oh, they had been the ones who were responsible for her current mood. Why was I not surprised? "Well… Your welcome, I guess!"
Potter smiled again. But said nothing more, so I turned around again. Assuming that this conversation was over.
"See, that wasn't so hard now, wasn't it?"
"I still don't see why it was necessary. It's not like she did it on purpose." They did know that I could hear them right?
"I think she's nice!"
"You don't even know her Peter, so how can you know that?" Wow. Nice Black, really! We were particularly living together for a few years, so yea… how should he know that? I opened my notebook again and started to write furiously inside, trying to distract myself from this situation but I couldn't help but listen to the rest of this conversation.
"She actually is pretty nice Sirius!" again it was Remus who countered. "She's friends with Dinah Meadows, and her accent is German by the way, James!"
"Dinah is Dorcas little sister right?" I felt the urge to hit my head on the table. Seriously? That is all they knew about D.? That her sister was one of the girls James had managed to get intimate with. And why would being friends with her automatically qualify me as nice? I could hear Dinah sign beside me and realized that she was listening to. Poor girl. She always stood in her sisters shadow. Dorcas was the perfect daughter. She had the best grades, played in the Quidditsch-Team and looked like a freaking model while doing it. Dinah on the other hand had to study hard to keep up with all the expectations that her parents were setting in her and she was way too shy to dress up like her sister. I took her left hand in mine and send her a small smile. At least we were together in this!
But if I had known back then, that this conversation would have only been the first one, I had with the four handsome troublemakers, or what trouble all of this would get me in I think I would have urged D. to run away with me…
If you made it then there is a small chance that you actually liked it, so if this is the case, please let me know^^. I'm also always open for some critic!
Lg Sunny