Live To Tell

Chapter 1-"Welcome Back"

Roselyn Enders was sitting in the compartment aboard the Hogwarts Express. She had her legs crossed and a book lay opened on her lap. Her shoulder length layered dark auburn hair was fluffed around her shoulders and brushed outwards. An opened window next to her caused her hair to flutter gently each time a gust of wind blew in.

Her honey brown eyes were skimming the paragraphs on the page. She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't notice 4 guys entering the compartment. On the seat next to her was her school bag. Several items were poking out, including a quill, ink bottle, and a Potions textbook.

"Mind if we sit with you?" a male voice asked.

She raised her eyes. The guy had untidy black hair and hazel eyes, which were behind a pair of thin black-rimmed glasses. All four guys she realized were in Gryffindor. They were wearing their robes and uniforms.

Roselyn shrugged as it didn't matter to her.

"Thanks," another male said. This guy had short, wavy thick black hair and blue eyes. He crashed onto the seat across from her. Sitting next to him was the guy with untidy black hair.

The 3rd guy was tall, lean and thin. He had short, thick light brown hair, the color of wheat and green eyes. He sat down next to her. His features were sharp and well etched but there was a bit of wornness to them

And finally, the last one was short, slightly chubby with medium brown hair and brown eyes. Roselyn thought he somewhat resembled a rat, but she didn't say anything. She knew who these guys were. They were the Marauders.

They were extremely popular at Hogwarts. Girls swooned over them and tried to get close to them. She didn't know them personally, but she knew of them.

Roselyn was in Ravenclaw. She was also dressed in her robe and uniform but it had the Ravenclaw house colors of blue and bronze.

"Some 3rd years took over our compartment," the guy with untidy black hair was saying.

"It's okay," Roselyn said. "It doesn't matter to me."

They loved pranking people also. They never really pranked the Ravenclaws, but they totally pranked the Slytherins every chance they got besides fellow Gryffindors.

"Well," the guy continued. "Let me introduce ourselves. I'm James Potter, that's Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, sitting beside you."

He pointed to each one in turn, ending with the guy sitting next to her.

Roselyn smiled. "I'm Roselyn Enders,"

"You're a Ravencrap huh?" Sirius Black asked her.

Roselyn nodded.

"Sirius," Remus Lupin said frowning beside her. "I really wish you'd stop calling them that. You even call the Hufflepuffs Huffledorks and the Slytherins Slythersnots."

Roselyn had to chuckle at that and kept her eyes on her book. After all any girl would give her wand to sit with them.

Sirius was grinning as Roselyn felt him checking her over.

Roselyn felt her cheeks flushing with color.

"Yeah well," Sirius said still grinning. "It gives me something to do."

Remus just shook his head and turned his eyes onto her. His eyes then moved onto the Potions textbook peering out from her bag. It was a copy he'd never seen before.

"Is that a Hogwarts book?" he asked curiously.

Roselyn pulled her eyes off the book she was reading and followed his gaze to the textbook.

She nodded and closed the book she was reading. She slipped it into her bag and closed the cover, but not before Remus caught a glimpse of her arm. The robe sleeve had pulled back revealing a nice black and blue.

Roselyn quickly realized what happened and hurriedly pulled the sleeve down. She realized that Sirius, Peter and James hadn't seen it as they were engrossed in conversation, but Remus had. He was watching her with concern.

"I bumped my arm on the compartment door," she muttered. "No biggie."

Remus raised an eyebrow at her. The bruise did not look like someone had bumped their arm on the compartment door but then again he always managed to fall over objects while talking to girls.

Just then, the compartment door opened and a Hufflepuff named Ryan Edwards stepped in.

"Rose? Come join us," he said. "We're at the end of the car."

"Hey Edwards," Sirius said. "Did you manage to find the bathroom alright? I thought from last year you'd end up having a repeat. Now that was embarrassing."

Ryan was the same height as Remus, but he had short, dark blond hair and azure eyes.

Ryan scowled.

"Shut up, Black," Ryan snapped. "Before I shove my wand up your ass."

"I'd love to see you try," Sirius challenged back smirking.

"Roselyn, now!" Ryan barked at her as he stepped in and roughly grabbed her arm, yanking her to her feet.

"Hey," James said looking shocked at the rough manner that Ryan had grabbed Roselyn in and Remus was stunned to see it was in the same place as the bruise.

"Mind your business, Potter," Ryan snapped.

Roselyn was standing now, but Remus saw her shaking ever so slightly.

"Roselyn, stay away from them," Ryan said coldly turning to her. "They're a bunch of arrogant, stuck up wannabe's who think they're above everyone else."

With that, he pulled Roselyn out of the compartment. Remus also saw something fall from her bag, but the compartment door slammed shut behind Roselyn and Ryan before he could alert Roselyn to the fact that something had fallen from her bag.

"God," Sirius said. "I totally want to hex that twit into oblivion."

Remus bent down and picked up the object that had fallen from her bag. It was a small butterfly clip.

"Lemme see, Mooney," Sirius said leaning forward and snatching it from Remus. "Now, this is just my style!"

He pretended to fasten it to his thick, black hair. James and Peter laughed, but Remus frowned.

"That's hers," he said quietly. "I should give it to her."

He held out his hand, palm upward and Sirius handed it back to him.

"I'll be right back," he said.

He stepped out of the compartment and into the corridor. The rocking motion of the train caused him to walk slightly drunk, but he managed to head down to the end of the car.

Students were already laughing and talking in the compartments. The snack witch would be coming around shortly.

As he approached the end compartment, he heard a sound like someone smacking another person, a girl cry out, then a guys' angry tone.

"What were you thinking talking to them? They could've jinxed you in a minute!"

Remus realized it was Ryan's voice. Then the next voice he heard was Roselyn's.

"They were nice to me. They don't seem that bad,"

Remus slowly continued to approach the compartment until he stood outside it. He saw Roselyn curled up on the bench seat against the window. The left side of her face was red and raw. Her hair had fallen forward slightly. Ryan was standing over her.

Remus cleared his throat and knocked on the compartment door. Ryan's eyes moved onto him and immediately, a look of pure disgust came across his face. He stepped over to the door and opened it.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely.

Remus' eyes slid off of Ryan and onto Roselyn behind him.

"This fell out of her bag," Remus said slowly. "I just wanted to return it."

He opened his palm and turned it upwards to Ryan, showing him the butterfly clip. Ryan snatched it from Remus' upturned palm.

"How sweet," Ryan said nastily. "Well, you've done your good deed now leave."

Remus hesitated.

"Is she alright?" he asked.

"She's fine," Ryan said firmly and snappishly. "Now LEAVE."

He slammed the compartment door in Remus' face. Remus hesitated a minute before turning and making his way back to the compartment.

When he entered the compartment, he was greeted with Sirius making a loud raspberry sound, causing James and Peter to roll with laughter.

"Remus did you give the hair clip back?" Peter squeaked looking up at Remus.

Remus took a seat, but he had a troubled expression on his face.

"What's wrong pal?" James asked seeing Remus' troubled expression.

"When I was approaching the compartment, I heard Ryan yelling at Roselyn. I think he hit her," he raised his green eyes to James'. "Plus, I saw a bruise on her arm."

"She could've bumped her arm on anything," Sirius said reasonably. "As for Edwards yelling at her, he could've just been exercising his macho attitude thinking we'd hex her. Did you see him hit her?"

"That's exactly what he was saying," Remus said. "And that's exactly what she said she did. She said she'd bumped her arm on the compartment door and no but her cheek was raw. Maybe she was leaning on it the wrong way."

"There you have it," James said. "Try not to worry, Mooney. It's really none of our business."

He turned to Sirius and Peter and began talking to them about the upcoming Quidditch game this year.

Remus looked out the window.

They were entering their 6th year at Hogwarts now. James was still trying to get Lily Evans to go out with him, but he never gave up even though Lily refused to go out with him. Sirius was the handsome one that the girls swooned over. Sirius had a girlfriend at least once a week. Peter worshipped Sirius and laughed at every joke Sirius cracked and would follow him around.

Then there was Remus. He wasn't as handsome as Sirius but oddly, girls still crushed on him. Girls said he was really cute. He'd only had one girlfriend before but it didn't last long. He wasn't ready to go any further in the relationship like she was so she dumped him finding refuge with a Slytherin.

Remus respected girls. He never mistreated them or made crude remarks to them like Sirius and James had. Naturally, since they were cute and handsome, the girls didn't care. All they did was giggle around them. Sirius called the girls 'chicks' 'babes' or 'broads'. He wouldn't be caught dead calling a girl by those names and he involuntarily shivered at the thought.

Remus was really too shy around girls. Sirius often teased him about being more comfortable around guys.

Remus would just scowl at him and threaten to bite him if he continued teasing him.

But then his mind kept showing Roselyn almost cowering in the corner of the compartment and he began wondering just what really was going on. He wanted to help her if she was in some kind of trouble. It was just his nature to want to help even though he didn't know her all that well. Something was definitely nagging at his gut saying that something was really wrong and it unsettled him. He guessed it was just his nature to be suspicious and normally, 50 percent of the time his suspicions had turned out right.

"Hello? The lights are on but nobody's home," Sirius said waving a hand energetically in front of Remus' face.

"Huh?" Remus asked snapping out of this thoughts and staring at Sirius sitting across from him.

Sirius was smirking at him.

"You're thinking of Roselyn aren't you?" he said shrewdly.

"No," Remus replied shortly.

"I bet you were," Sirius continued. "She is a hot babe for a Ravencrap."

Remus scowled at him. "I really wish you would stop referring to girls as 'babes'. It's so demeaning,"

Sirius studied him closely.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked. "You seem a bit on edge there."

"Just nervous about the new year," Remus muttered lying. "We've got tons of work to do this year."

"We're gonna party!" Sirius cried laughing as the turned to James and Peter and picked up on the conversation again.

They reached Hogwarts. The train pulled into the station and the pistons began slowing down until the train came to a complete stop.

They left the compartment and headed toward the back, where the exit was. As Remus passed the compartment where Roselyn and Ryan had been, Remus looked in and something shiny and glittery caught his eye. He stepped in and hefted the legs to his black slacks as he crouched down. He picked up the object. It was the butterfly clip that he'd returned to Roselyn. It was crushed as though someone had stepped on it several times.

"Whatcha got there mate?" Remus heard James' voice from the compartment entranceway.

"Nothing," Remus said quickly as he clutched the clip in his palm. "I thought it was a galleon."

"Come on," James said waving to them.

Remus slipped the clip into his pocket and followed everyone off the train.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter headed off to the castle while they watched the first years climb into the boat. They looked scared and excited at the same time.

"I say we give them a welcome gift," Sirius said grinning mischievously.

James watched Remus closely. He knew his best friend long enough to know something was bothering him. If Ryan had been hitting Roselyn that was incredibly inhuman and low. James had seen how roughly Ryan had grabbed Roselyn, hell they all had. James knew that if Roselyn was in trouble, Remus would offer to help her. The scary thing was that half of the time, whenever Remus had a suspicion it turned out to be right.

They reached Hogwarts and entered the Great Hall. The Enchanted ceiling reflected the beautiful night sky outside. Floating candles illuminated it even more. Remus, James, Sirius and Peter took their seats at the Gryffindor table. Headmaster Dippet stood in front of the students once the first years were sorted.

"Welcome back everyone," he said cheerfully. "I trust this year will be productive and you will all study as those in your 7th years will be leaving. I hope you have learned well. Now, this year there will be a Christmas Ball. Everyone above 3rd year will be invited. Now, let's eat!"

Food magically appeared on the plates and the Hall buzzed excitedly of talk of the upcoming Christmas Ball.

James glanced down the Gryffindor table and gave Lily Evans a wink. She scowled and turned her back to him. Lily often talked with Remus. They were best friends actually. He was the only Marauder she talked to, beside Peter. Remus helped himself to some meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn. His eyes immediately moved onto the Ravenclaw table. Roselyn was sitting alone eating. She looked up and caught him watching her. She gave him a weak smile before returning to her dinner.

Once dinner was over, they headed up to the Gryffindor tower. Now Remus was sure that Headmaster Dippet had lost his mind. He'd made James Potter Head Boy. Now, Lily Evans was Head Girl. Naturally, Remus had been made a Prefect again this year. He liked the responsibility plus he'd make sure that James kept himself in line and not cause too much trouble. But then again, James plus causing trouble equals every day of every year. Remus sighed as James gave the Fat Lady the password of "Lemon Drops" and she swung open. They entered the common room and James and Sirius sat on the couch. Peter sat on the chair. The fire was crackling softly and omitted a warm, orange glow over them. Remus sat down at the desk and pulled out the butterfly clip. The others were engrossed in conversation about pranking the first years as they came in. Remus pulled out his wand and gently tapped the clip. Immediately, it repaired itself. Once it was done, he slipped it back into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a book and began reading.