This is going to be my first fanfiction. I think I will have to get a couple of things out of the way: I will post every Thursday, New Delhi time. Second: This is mainly Sirius Black and OC, although I will be covering some other pairings, including James and Lily.
I sadly lack the amazingness to be JK Rowling, therefore, I own nothing in this story.
My Dear Fellow
by Ridiculousity
Everyone's Knickers in a Twist
"For the love of all that's good in the world Moony, put that down."
Remus Lupin looked up from his newspaper, with the bold heading 'More Attacks In London, Minister Befuddled'.
"I don't see why, Padfoot, Someone in this group has to make up for your ignorance of the world outside you." He said mildly, giving an arched eyebrow to the bored looking accuser, namely Sirius Black, who was incidently sitting across him in the Hogwarts Express.
"Who in the world would want to know anything beyond me?" asked Sirius Black with a cheeky grin, " Besides, my dear friend the outside world is currently outside, and I think you might want to pay attention to what's going on on the outside corridor," Sirius Black replied, grinning, and nodded to the train corridor.
Peter Pettigrew squeaked with part laughter and part fear, when he saw James Potter, on the train corridor, very clearly cursed with the petrificus totalus. In addition, the good Lily Evans could be seen disappearing in another compartment, with a swish of her red hair.
At least Sirius assumed it was Lily Evans. No one else had the audacity to hex James Potter in plain site, and disappear without being confronted by the rest of the infamous marauders. That, and the fact that she was around the only one with red hair in the school was an obvious fact as to who was the attacker.
Remus immediately got up and pulled Sirius up by his shoulder, while Sirius guffawed. They both went to James and lifted his curse (Remus did) and helped him up his feet (Remus did).
"Prongs my old friend," began Sirius in a mock serious tone, "Maybe you should let that bird go."
"Padfoot, my old stalker," replied James Potter, in the same serious tone, "Maybe you should butt out."
"No one else would put up with you and your whimsy James Potter, and you know it." Sirius said, waggling his eyebrows.
"Is that why you decided to come and live with me over summer?" James asked him with mock surprise, "For all my whimsy."
"You vastly misinterpret me," Sirius said cheerfully, "I came for the sake of your good mother, who sent me pleas of help, for after enduring you for sixteen years, she felt sure she was at the end of her tether,"
"Can we please, take this inside?" asked Remus after the whole give and take was over. Remus Lupin wasn't particularly fussed about his friends fighting, it was everyone watching that gave him the edge.
"Keep your shirt on Moony," Sirius said casually strolling over to their compartments.
"Why don't you keep your shirt on Padfoot?" Moony muttered under his breath,
"My dear fellow, let me assure you," Sirius said accusingly, "That if my shirt was off, there would be a hundred fainting girls in our vicinity. My shirt is kept on, in fact for the good of the world."
Remus chose not to say anything, and for good measure, as everyone was painfully aware of how good Sirius Black was at back and forth banter. The only person, easily as good as him, was only James Potter, who also lost to him just as much as he won.
James Potter and Sirius Black were well aware that their little back and forth existed only for the benifit of other, and that while alone, they were perfectly civil, if not a little courteous. James Potter had no problem finding Sirius Black when in trouble, and the same could be applied vice versa, making the relationship a very strong bond, much like an ionic one.
Where Remus Lupin was concerned, he was the constant go to guy for advice. Remus Lupin could have written a book on the different problems caused by the marauders, and each and everytime he had saved their asses. The boys felt a peculiar commeradrie with Remus Lupin, what with his curse of Lycanthropy, he might have been the most horrible boy in school. In it's place was a mild mannered teenager, with utmost respect for his fellow human beings.
Peter Pettigrew was the oddball of the group. He never had much luck with society, hence when the friendly offer from Sirius and James came up, he gravitated immediately. He was a slightly clumsy boy, accident prone and strange. The boys liked him all the same. He was quiet, but always there. And that's what mattered to them.
Lily Evans was still smarting from James Potter's apparent move on her in the train.
"Oi! Stop pouting your pretty lips and come!" Marlene called.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist!" called Lily, stumbling over herself in a hurry, and she rushed to the coach only to find that someone had taken her place.
"I told you to hurry, Didn't I?" asked Marlene, "Let's look for another coach."
"No, there's only one left, with only one place left." Lily bit her lip, "I suppose I'll see you at the castle then."
"Alright," Marlene said.
Lily jumped off and disappeared in the direction of the last coach. She wasn't really thinking, and when she looked up to see her companions for the coach ride, she stopped dead on her tracks.
If horror stories came true, this was Lily's. The marauders had promptly seated themselves on the coach and were laughing lightly.
"Oh, Lily-Flower." Sirius said with a flowered tone,
"I'd rather take the train home," she said immediately, cutting him short, and turning around.
"Now, now." He said in his most charming tone, "Come and sit. We won't bite."
"I don't think we should put that to test." Lily promptly replied.
"Your sense of humour always fascinated me, flower." Sirius said.
"I'll keep them in check, Lily." Remus said assuringly.
Lily groaned, and jumped up in the coach, promptly taking her place beside the last passenger, that was a blonde girl, who looked like she feared for her life. Lily didn't blame her. She feared for her own life too.
There was a few seconds of awkward silence, where James was looking like he was ready to faint, and simultaneously praying feverishly to all the deities he had ever heard of. Lily was ignoring all of them, and Sirius was waggling his eyebrows at Remus.
Remus caught the look on Sirius' face, and instantly was on gaurd. Sirius was about to cause trouble.
Remus gave a very natural sounding, all human, three toned cough, at which Lily looked up as if she had been struck be lightning.
Her eyes went wide, and she notcied Sirius immediately. She knew he was about to say something obscene, or something outrageous, but before she could stop him, he had already begun.
"And what is your name?" He adressed the terrified looking girl in the corner.
The girl cast a scared looked around, hoping for a clue, and then said, stuttering, "M-my nam-me is Jun-ne Let-to"
"How did I not notice a pretty little creature like you?" asked Sirius impishly.
The girl didn't blush, or giggle, or say anything at all, she looked just the same: really nervous.
"I supp-pose you do-on't really not-tice other peop-ple." She said helpfully.
Sirius was momentarily stymied. Remus caught Lily's eye and they both grinned, while Peter laughed and James positively fell over.
"I don't suppose you can judge a book by its cover, can you?" Sirius said after a pause, arching his eyebrows suggestively.
She said nothing, for she looked too scared. And then she eyed him from up to down, as if scrutinizing him, and in that second, Sirius was sure he saw something different from the nervousness in her eyes. She was concentrating, she was calculating, and she looked shrewd.
Before he could ask her to reveal her analysis, Lily asked her suddenly, "What year are you in?"
June's switched her gaze, and said softly, "Sixt-th year."
"That's our year!" James said cheerfully, "How do we not know you?"
June didn't reply, and Lily asked her again, "What's your house?"
Sirius was sure it was going to be Hufflepuff. A timid little girl like her couldn't be anything else. Besides; that would explain why he didn't know her.
"Gr-ryfind-dor." She muttered.
There was a few seconds of silence as everyone digested this. It was a very strange thing to know that a girl who stuttered was in the house of Gryffindor, house of bravery and valour.
"How do I not know you?" Lily muttered to herself, "We share a dormitory! I must have seen you somewhere."
"I do-on't thin-nk I was inter-ested in being seen." She said.
At that point James said something funny and the others burst into laughter, while Lily continued to eye June suspiciously.
"There's the sch-ool" June muttered and jumped off the carriage with no goodbye. Lily stared after her.
"So what's the case?" asked Lily.
"About what?" Marlene asked, examining her nails.
They were sitting in the great hall, piling up on the food.
"About her?" Lily said, nodding her head towards June Leto.
"What about her?" Mary asked.
"I don't know her." Lily explained.
"So?" Marlene questioned.
"I make it a point to know everyone. From the first formers, right up till the top formers. How do I not know someone in our own year?"
"Oh Lily," said Mary, exasperated, "Just because you don't know someone doesn't mean they have just come, and decided to jump on us."
"Hey Dorcas!" called Lily.
The pretty brunette named Dorcas Meadows looked up from her food. She was with Benjamin Fenwick, who was, incidentally, levitating chiken legs.
"Do you know that girl?" she asked, indicating June.
June was eating quietly, and seemed to be wanting to not catch anyone's attention. She fingered her food disinterestedly, and shifted it about with a fork.
"No. Why?" Dorcas replied.
"What about you Benjamin?" asked Lily.
"I'm Ben, and should I be knowing her?"
Lily faced Marlene and Mary with a tirumphant smile.
"She keeps herself to herself," said Marlene with a shrug, "Doesn't mean anything."
"It is a little strange though." Mary said thoughtfully.
"But you shouldn't be bothering with all that right now." Marlene said at once. "Curiousity killed the cat Lily darling."
Lily said nothing, staring at her plate.
Lily Evans was of the leading sort. She had been made prefect during her fifth year, and was a powerful figure at Hogwarts. She personally enjoyed her studies, and tended to put everyone around her at ease. She had an unnerring knack at keeping people comfortable, and resultantly, no one had a problem coming to their prefect with their troubles.
So you might now understand why it was strange for her to know that she didn't know everyone and everyone didn't come to her.
On the other hand, her best friends Marlene Mckinnon and Mary McDonald were slightly contrasting characters. Mary had become her friend only last year, when she had been tortured by Avery and Mulciber. Lily and Marlene had taken her under their wing, and found that Mary liked to paint, and enjoyed music. She was the easy going timid variety, and generally went along with Lily and Marlene.
Marlene Mckinnon and Lily Evans had been a pair since they met on the Hogwarts express. Marlene was a wild child, with pretty blonde hair. Her liking for gossip had always been the bane of Lily's existence. She had a strong and determined character, with a particular disinterest in studies.
Lily had secretly harboured a hope, that Marlene and Sirius might end up together, but had been disappointed numerous times when Marlene told her that Sirius and she had snogged but nothing more happened of it. Both of them were very alike, with very similar characters. However, they regarded each other as nothing more than snog buddies.
Dorcas Meadows tended to join them sometimes when she required some girl time, but her best friend had always been Benjamin Fenwick. Meanwhile, money was constantly changing hands as people speculated when those two might end up together.
June Leto half heartedly stuffed her mouth with some of the delicious food. She was deep in thought about so
mething or the other.
Presently she was contemplating the carriage ride back to the castle. She groaned inwardly at her own lack of foresight. She should have walked to the castle than share the carriage with the marauders. That could be her death most possibly. She should have known they would be the last, due to James' hex, and she should have known they would take the last carriage.
How she knew that James was hexed, and how she knew that they would be late due to that, is an open question. Any explanation is as good as the last.
She watched Benjamin Fenwick and Dorcas Meadows. Meadows was lucky no one noticed that she was developing a fancy for Benjamin. She probably didn't know herself. As for the bets: they were idle speculation. No one except June knew that Meadows fancied Fenwick.
Little Mary Conner was laughing with her fourth year friends. June knew she had a mother in the hospital, and her father was dead. She was raised by her grandmother.
Mary Conner hadn't told anyone that of course. June just knew by happen stance.
Bradley Boot hadn't said much to anyone for quite sometime. June knew why. His father was contemplating moving to America, where he will have to study in the Salem witches institute.
Carla Norm of the second grade was cheerfully taking drinks of pumpkin juice. Behind the cheerful exterior there was a hint of bravado. June knew her grades were dropping horribly, and she was wondering what to do about it.
The marauders were laughing uproriously with their fellow sixth years. June knew Remus was a werewolf of course. That was a little obvious. But what had had her stymied for many months was the rest of the three.
They were animagi. June knew because she had seen them change. There were so many places for someone quiet to hide in the castle, secrets tended to slip between the cracks of the walls. And June was good at being quiet.
She had a feeling they got around the castle with help, for they would pop at the oddest of places, and her quiet hiding spots were often invaded with their presence. June could perform a camoflauge charm that rendered her invisible, so they never really noticed her.
"My dear woman, that food is supposed to go in your mouth."
Sirius had adressed June. June blushed. She felt a little shock that someone had said something to her actually.
Sirius grinned at his friends, and performed a quick charm to levitate her food and have it land on her head.
Again there were outbursts of laughter along the table, while Remus offered her a napkin. She shook Remus away, and performed her own little charm to make the food disappear.
"You managed the vanashing spell?" asked Remus, "I still haven't got that one." He almost sounded admiring.
"I-it's ea-easy." She muttered.
There was another outbreak of laughter at her stammer.
She said nothing. She knew every single detail of the lives of everyone on the table, everyone on the other tables, and everyone on the staff tables. But she never used that information.
And again, why June Leto knew all this is an open question. One explanation is as good as the last.