The Departure

A possible avenue of Sirius's reasons for leaving his family and fortune behind…other than all the pure-blood bigotry.

It was the beginning of their fifth year at Hogwarts and the Marauders had more than cemented their role among the student body. They were the wild bunch that were always in trouble and somehow managed to walk away with little more than a tongue-lashing. James was cocky, but endearing. His good nature always managed to pull him from the dregs that his ego got him into. Remus was the quiet one; it was always assumed that he had been forced into trouble in an effort to get his friends out of it. Peter was the follower. None too bright and eager to please the few friends that tolerated him. He'd jump off a bridge in a heartbeat at the request of anyone with a higher social ranking.

And then there was Sirius. Other than his charm, there were no redeeming features in this typical wizarding aristocrat. He came from one of the most powerful families in the wizarding world and one of the best looking. As the boys had gotten older, it was obvious that Sirius was the looker of the gang. He was also the most reckless. His lack of parental nurturing had taught that rules were for others and not for him. But, he was still popular and well liked.

Especially by the girls. The beginning of fifth year had met the Marauders with the eyes of many ladies, including those a few years older (something their egos much needed!). Remus and Peter tended to shy away from the girls. Well, Remus shied away, what with his "condition" and all. Peter pretended to shy away to mask the fact that girls actually avoided him. James, however, had his sites set on someone, already. Being the arrogant boy he was, he'd picked a girl that his mates were sure he would never get.

"That girl hates you!" Remus laughed as they ate their lunch in the Great Hall, "If you get her to go out with you, I'll howl at the moon when it isn't full!"

Peter and Sirius gave supportive sniggers to their handicapped friend.

"Lupin's right, James," Sirius added, "Lily Evans will never go out with you! She won't even pass by you in the halls!"

"I'll change her mind," James assured them, "No one can hate James Potter forever!"

The boys continued to laugh at their friend, until Sirius became distracted by the newest populates of the Great Hall. It was a small group of Ravenclaw girls, fifth years as well. One of them looked familiar, but Sirius was sure that he hadn't seen her at Hogwarts before. He watched her subtly as he pretended to listen to Peter's latest mistelling of a misadventure with a sixth year girl.

The Ravenclaw girl departed from her gaggle to take a solitary seat near the end of the hall. She had dark brown hair and skin that had obviously seen the sun more recently than the rest of the students. She was wearing a uniform, but tended to fidget with it uncomfortably. She gazed around the hall curiously for a few moments before pulling out a deck of cards from her book bag.

'Divinition…' Sirius scoffed in his head as she carefully removed the cards from their box and began to shuffle them. To his surprise, the girl did not lay them out in any sort of tarot spread, but laid them down in a neat line and began to flip the entire row from end to end with her finger tips. She quickly grew bored and returned to shuffling, adding a bridge here and there for good measure. She cut the cards a few times then fanned the deck before her again.

"Sirius!" James yelled, "Where've you been?"

"Who's that girl over there?" Sirius remarked, pointing to the girl with the cards and shaking himself back to reality.

"Isn't that Ariana Lewis?" Peter replied quickly.

"No…" Remus continued, "Ariana has Witches Society meetings at lunch. She's the secretary; can't imagine she'd miss a meeting."

"And how would you know that, Mooney?" James asked with a wry smile.

The werewolf blushed. "I've had a few conversations with one of the commanding witches," he answered with a wry smile of his own.

"Well, well. You might just be more of a dog than Padfoot!"

"Hey, hey!" Sirius interjected, "Let's not get carried away now! Remember that this dog's had more tail than the three of you combined!"

"Only if you call 'tail' snogging random fourth years on the Hogwarts Express!" Remus laughed.

"It's still more action than you've seen!" Sirius chuckled as he stole a glance at the mysterious Ravenclaw.

But she was gone.

The Marauder's ended their lunch and went on to their respective classes, which none of them shared. Sirius headed out to Herbology, where he was sure to cause a disaster. The only class he hated more was Divination; both were a profound waste of his time, but he needed something to fill the extra time in his schedule.