Remus Lupin sat quietly in the corner of the large lunch room, chewing away slowly on a ham and cheese sandwhich. James had gone off to make out with Lily in a different corner, Sirius was still waiting in line for his food and Peter had a different lunch schedule. He hated being in this different school in this different country with these different people. He sighs and looks down at the table, hoping Sirius wouldn't be much longer. He looked up when a shadow fell over him and felt fear explode in his stomach.
A dark haired girl stood before him, a friendly smile on her face. She offered him her hand before speaking.
"Hey. You're one of the new transfers from Europe, right?" She asked, maintaining the smile as he shook her hand shyly and nodded. "My name's Cheryl Thorton. Everyone just calls me Thorton. What's your name?"
"Remus. Remus Lupin." He answers politely, letting go of her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He almost sighed in relief when he saw Sirius coming back.
"The pleasure's mine, Mr. Remus Lupin. Welcome to Valley High School. I promise the whole student body isn't a bunch of shit-brained dicks." She gave a playful grin and knowing wink before turning around and introducing herself to Sirius. "You transfered here with Remus, yes?" She asked after introductions were out of the way.
"Yup. Me, Prongsy, Wormtail, Evans, Moony and that slimy git over there transfered here from England." He said, jerking his head in the direction of Severus Snape, who sat alone at another table. "We're not friends with the git."
She blinked, unfamiliar with the names and the terms, but nodded anyway. "All righty, then. I'll leave you fine gentlemen to your lunch. If you guys need any help finding your way around this rat trap, just ask me." Cheryl gave one last friendly smile before leaving back to her table of friends.
"She seemed nice." Remus said after Sirius sat down next to him. The other boy merely nodded in agreement before beginning to dig into his food.
---
After the lunch period, Remus, Sirius, James and Lily found themselves lost. They each had different classes in different parts of the school on different floors of the buildings. The group wandered around aimlessly before running into Cheryl again, kicking a soda machine for eating her money.
"Oh, hey Remus, Sirius." She smiled, leaving the machine be. "Lost, are we?"
"Unfortunately." Lily grumbled, brushing her hair away from her face as she blushed lightly. "There are so many buildings and floors..." She began.
"No worries, no worries, miss, I can help you." Cheryl grinned and asked for their schedules. After explaining the complicated ordering system of the school, Sirius spoke.
"This bloody school is insane!" He shouted, holding his head as if his brain hurt. James patted his shoulder and nodded in agreement. Remus looked to Lily who looked as if the answer was obvious the whole time. He found himself laughing quietly.
"Well, you guys better haul ass, 'cause the bell's gonna ring in a couple minutes." She warned. "It was a pleasure meeting you all." She said cheerily.
"Don't you have to get to class?" Lily asked, putting her schedule back into her bag. "My name's Lily Evans, by the way."
"Nah, right now's my free period, so I'm heading to the library to help Mrs. Perktrey." Cheryl answered. "I'm Cheryl Thorton. Just call me Thorton." She waved good bye to Lily as she ran off towards the stairs.
"The name's James Potter. I have to go to the library too, I think." He said, still looking at his schedule. Remus looked over his shoulder and nodded in confirmation.
Remus and Sirius waved their good byes soon after, running off to try and beat the bell. Cheryl looked at James before smiling and slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Lets roll, James. You gotta get there on time for your first day."
"What exactly am I doing in the library?"
"Just sorting books, really." She shrugged. "There might be a class in there, so you might help with the white boards or something. I usually just direct Freshmen around."
At the library, a plump woman dressed in turquoise greeted Cheryl and James.
"About time you got here, Thorton, we have a transfer here that doesn't know what he's supposed to do and I need you to help me sort books." Mrs. Perktrey finally turned her attention to James and gave him a warm smile. "Welcome to Valley Academy. I'm Mrs. Perktrey, the librarian. All I need you to do is sort the books with Thorton, 'kay?" James gave an affirming nod and grinned. "Follow Thorton and she'll tell you what to do. I have to go teach." The chubby woman practically skipped away to the library's other room.
"Come on, James, the book pile is next to the help desk." She said, heading towards the center of the first room where an island counter was. She lifted the door of the counter, allowing herself and James into the booth before lowering and latching it. "Here are the books. There's a graph of how to sort books taped to the counter next to you. Get started and I'll help the transfer." She said before turning to look at Severus Snape, who had been watching with agitation. "I'm sorry for making you wait. How may I help you?"
"What do you want, you git?" James glared at Severus, standing up from the stool he had plopped down on to go through the books.
"Now, now, James, no need to be rude." Cheryl said in clear warning. She turned back to Severus and smiled. "I'm sorry about that. What do you need?"
"I'm looking for a book..." He looked at a note. "John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men'?"
"Great book. Just give me your I... D... Card..." She slowed her speaking as she thought. "Oh, right, you just transfered, so you don't have your ID yet." Cheryl began digging through her back pack. Severus began to leave, but she called him back. "Hey, don't run off so soon. I have a copy you can borrow from me personally." She handed him a hardback copy of the book. "Here ya go. Keep it as long as you want and return it to me when you have the time."
"Thank you..." He took the book and tucked it into his backpack.
"You transfered here from England, right?" A little nod. "I'm Cheryl Thorton. I'm a Student Body Assistant. You can ask me if you have any questions about our school. What's your name?"
"Severus Snape." He answered after a moment.
"Nice to meet you, Severus." She held her hand out to him. He didn't take it. She withdrew her hand and smiled. "Have a nice day." After he walked away, Cheryl sat on the floor in front of the unsorted books to help James.
"Why were you so nice to him? He's a jerk." James said, picking up a book.
"He seemed like he needed someone to be nice to him." She answered.
---
"Hey... Severus?" Cheryl shook the unconscious boys shoulder, obviously worried. "Severus, wake up!" She shook him harder and smacked him lightly. Finally, the boy came to.
"Wha-?" He grabbed Cheryl's wrists in confusion and stilled her. "What happened...?" Severus whispered, slowly sitting up. It was dark and they were bathed in the dim glow of street lights. They were still on school grounds. "Why are we here?"
"I came back to school to get something from my locker and I found you here, Severus. Are you all right?" She didn't try to free her wrists, but leaned closer to him to get a better look. "You look like you got the God loving shit beaten out of you."
He let go of her wrists hastily and turned away. "I'm fine. I just had a run in with Potter." He stood slowly and would've fell if Cheryl hadn't grabbed him in time. "Leave me alone." Severus grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulders, and made a move to walk away. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the light.
She gently brushed his black hair away from his face, cradling his cheek with her free hand. Her brow furrowed as she traced the scrapes and cuts left by James. Her eyes saddened when she saw the awful bruises on his eyes and cheeks. "Severus..." She whispered before hugging him. "You endured this in England and here too?" She asked. When she felt him nod, she spoke once more. "I won't let this happen to you again, Severus."
---
James closed his eyes when he felt his head smash against the lockers behind him. His green eyes met Cheryl's icy blue. "What the fuck, Thorton?"
"You beat the shit out of Severus last night and left him with a concussion." Her fist met his cheek. "I found him passed out in front of the gym. Half of his books were thrown on the roof." Her knee made contact with his stomach. "Someone stole his cell phone while he was unconscious." Cheryl drew back her fist to nail his eye again but a hand grabbed her wrist. She turned to see Remus. "What do you want, Remus?" Her tone was calm and even as she spoke to him, her stance relaxing.
"What James did was awful, Che- Thorton. And on his behalf, I'm really sorry for what happened. James has temper problems and a terrible history with Snape. He does bad things, but he's not a bad person..." Remus and Cheryl stared at each other for a long, still moment before she released James and stalked away. "You got lucky, James. I didn't think she would actually back down."
"She seemed pretty normal yesterday." James said, tenderly feeling the bruises forming on his face. "Can't believe she stood up for that greasy git."
"Lily used to stand up for him."
"Shut up, Moony."
---
"What was all that noise?" Severus asked as Cheryl sat down next to him.
"I was just taking care of some business..." She answered, tucking her black hair behind her ear. "James shouldn't be bothering you again." She gave him a smile. "How are you feeling? What did the doctors say?"
"I feel better. They said I should be getting better soon, and that you shouldn't worry so much." Amusement danced in his eyes. "What exactly did you do to Potter, Cheryl?"
"I beat him until his friend Remus stepped in. Polite fellow. Strange to see a smart boy amongst brutes without being the one pulling the strings." She babbled on happily, pulling out her school work. She stopped suddenly and gave him a sincere look. "I'm glad you're okay, Severus. I was on both ends of bullying and I know what it can do to people." She leaned over and gently stroked his cheek, focused on the ugly bruise there. "Do you remember what they did to you?" He nodded against her hand. Cheryl didn't ask him to tell her and slowly withdrew her hand.
He grabbed her hand and looked at the scrapes on her knuckles. He smirked a little before releasing her hand. "Thank you for taking care of Potter, Cheryl. You're the first person to stand up for me in a long time."
"Everyone else is a coward." She said bitterly. Her expression relaxed and she sighed. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't say that."
---
The bell rings for lunch and almost everyone heads for the cafeteria.
"Severus, come eat with me and my friends." Cheryl said, putting her hand on Severus's shoulder. He turned around to look at her and gave her a timid smile. "They want to meet you. They don't bite, I promise."
He looked to the table behind her to see a table of three girls, all looking at him. When they noticed he was looking back at them, they waved him over and called to him. "Come on, we wanna meet 'cha!" A blonde girl shouted. He looked to Cheryl again.
"Don't worry, you don't have to. I was scared of them myself." She laughed. She offered him her hand to help him up. He took it and stood up, letting her lead him back to her table of friends. "Severus, this is Ellen, Jocelyn and Theresa." She said, gesturing to the girls. "Ladies, this is Severus Snape."
"Hello, Severus. Has Thorton been tolerable?" Jocelyn, the blonde haired girl asked, shooting a look at Cheryl. "She has a... Reputation..."
"Cheryl has been quite nice to me." He answered, sitting down next to Cheryl and Theresa. She turned to look at him and grinned.
"It's unusual for her to let people call her Cheryl." Theresa said, brushing away her brown hair so she could closer examine him. He wanted to flinch away from the dark blue eyes that took in his angular face, his black eyes, his oily hair and the splotches of black on his eyes. "Isn't that right, Thorton?" Cheryl's back stiffened.
"I have my reasons, Terry." She nearly spat the name. "Now shut up and eat." Cheryl returned to her good mood and took out her sandwhich.
"I heard Elizabeth got suspended for having sex in the janitor's closet." Ellen broke in with her usual gossip. "She was going down on that cute Alex guy."
The girls chattered and ate, every now and again, Severus would contribute to the conversation. They were pleasant girls, a little obnoxious, but tolerable. He liked them better than those damned Marauders.