Let Me Be Your Downfall
Chapter One: Hey There, Delilah
Our friends would all make fun of us
And we'll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way…
Oh, it's what you do to me
Lily Evans lightly tugged at her ear, looking down the long aisle that led to the door of the compartment she and her friends claimed as their own what felt like a lifetime ago. With a light sigh, she forced herself down to said compartment, her Head Girl badge gleaming on her black robes.
Normally Lily was just as excited to go to Hogwarts, the school her family - sans her sister, Petunia - were so proud of her for being accepted into, as any other witch or wizard her age. However, this was the beginning of the end of an era and she wasn't completely sure if she was ready to plunge in headfirst. There had been so many good memories and she honestly didn't know if she wanted to let go.
'That's the thing about growing up,' she thought to herself as she stood in front of the compartment door. 'You don't get any say in it.'
"Hey, Lily, what's with the long face?" came a voice behind her, literally shocking her out of her thoughts.
"Bugger, Potter," Lily replied reproachfully, quickly trying to recompose herself and ignore the looks some nearby first years were giving the two of them.
"Oh, bloody, I'm sorry," James Potter quickly apologized, hoping that he hadn't peeved her off too badly. "I didn't mean to scare me."
"You didn't scare me," Lily lied forcefully, readjusting her bag on her shoulder and pretending to be unaffected by the situation.
The two seventeen-year-olds stood stock-still and stared at each other. Lily took in the fact that over the summer James had traded his usual silver frames in for brown, square ones and had allowed his hair to grow out more, ever enhancing his usual messy look. James, on the other hand, couldn't get over the fact that the butterflies were still in his stomach, ever since he had first laid eyes on the red haired, green eyed, Lily Evans.
Lily cleared her throat, incredibly uncomfortable due to the silence. "Yes, well, I see that you made Head Boy, too."
"You made Head Boy?" James asked jokingly, hoping to be the source of a smile on his long-time crush's lips.
Lily, however, was not amused. "You know what I mean. What I'm trying to get at, though, is that I figure we need to get along this year if everything is going to be run smoothly, if you know what I mean. I'm sure it would be difficult otherwise."
James didn't bother to mention that he had been trying fruitlessly for the past six years to be on comfortable terms with Lily but was unable to ignore the stomach flip that occupied his abdominal region when she said that. "Okay."
"Great," Lily responded, quickly becoming aware of how uncomfortable the air was within a four-foot radius of where they were standing. "Well, I'll see you around, then."
"Sure thing, Evans," said James as Lily quickly pushed open the door to the solace that was the small compartment her friends already inhabited.
She was welcomed by a voice that was obviously trying to mock their Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall from "Miss Evans, did I just spy a flash of a certain James Potter out there?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Lily replied to her best-friend-since-their-first-ride-to-Hogwarts, Jamie Williams, not trying to mask the annoyance in her voice. "I'm hoping that having him be the first person I've talked to this school year isn't a foreshadowing of the year to come."
"Now, honestly, Lily," Jamie said, "he's my cousin."
"I am well aware of that fact," Lily said, seating herself across from Jamie in the near empty compartment. "I am also well aware of the fact that he's an insufferable git."
"Moving on," Jamie dismissed, waving her hand, "notice anything different about me?"
Lily allowed her eyes to sweep her best friend, from her dark brown waves, olive green eyes, and freckled face to the long scar that peaked out from underneath her jean skirt, as she had yet to change into her Hogwarts uniform. "No, can't say I do," Lily shrugged.
Jamie released a heavy sigh, demonstrating her annoyance. "Really, Lily. I got my lip pierced when we were visiting my mum's mate that lives in the States."
"What?" Lily's eyes widened and quickly shot to the said piercing. "Oh, Jamie, that's disgusting."
"I happen to think it fits me," Jamie replied, playing with the ring temporarily, then dropping her hand as the compartment door slid open. "But, I knew you'd hate it. That's why I didn't owl you for your opinion."
"Lily's opinion never matters," Lauren Scott joked, taking a seat next to Jamie.
"It's true," Daphne Scott, Lauren's younger sister by a year, agreed.
"Daph, shut it," Lauren reprimanded, obviously showing a smidgen of annoyance at her sister's presence.
Noticing it, one of Daphne's eyebrows shot up. "Well, then, I see when I'm not wanted. I'm going to go find some of my other, nice, Ravenclaw friends. See you around, Lily and Jamie."
Before Daphne could completely shut the door, it was opened back up again, featuring an exasperated Jaclyn Carter, breathing hard, which showed how much of a hurry she had been in. "Almost missed the train - again."
"Well, you were six for six, weren't you?" Jamie pointed out to Jaclyn, who was also her cousin on top of James, only on the opposite side of the family. "Wouldn't want you to break such a lovely streak, am I right?"
Jaclyn shot Jamie a look, then sat herself beside Lily. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she looked at Lauren. "Daphne didn't exactly look pleased. What's going on?"
"Oh, don't even get me started," Lauren groaned, throwing up her hands in frustration. "As you guys know, my parents decided that it would be a good idea to split on each other while we were away at school. We have to stay with my mum because of some daft custody issue, but my mum couldn't afford any kind of decent housing, so we live in a far too small flat with two bedrooms - one of which I share with Daphne."
"You mentioned that in an owl at the beginning of the summer," Lily pointed out. "But, everything was keen then, right?"
"Right," Lauren agreed. "However, two months in a small room with my sister? Let's just say I'm more than glad that she's a Ravenclaw and I'm a Gryffindor."
"I, for one, can say that I'm more than happy being the spoiled only child," Jamie grinned, putting her hands behind her head.
"Shut it," the other three girls spat, glaring at her.
"Besides," Lily pushed on as the train began to move and looking at Jamie, "you're basically related to everyone else, so it'd be a shame to add siblings onto there."
"Is it my fault I'm pure-blood?" Jamie demanded. "Honestly, it bugs me from time to time as well."
"Are you related to Remus?" Lauren asked with a twinkle in her eye. "That could get weird."
"Besides the fact Remus isn't a pure-blood, no, I'm not related to Remus," Jamie shot back, rolling her eyes, then recovering. "Speaking of, have any of you seen him?"
After Lily and Lauren shook their heads showing they hadn't, Jaclyn nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, he was running onto the train as I was loading my trunk."
"Remus Lupin late?" Lily gasped, feigning immense shock. "I can hardly believe it."
Right on cue, there was a knock on the compartment door and there stood Remus. He had an apologetic look on his face, which was quickly replaced with a wide grin when he made eye contact with Jamie. "Hi," he greeted simply.
"Hi," Jamie replied, returning his grin.
"Damn, should we leave you two alone?" Lauren commented. "I feel kind of frightened just being between the two of you."
"Oh, please," Jamie said, hoping that her face wasn't turning as red as she envisioned it and violently pushing Lauren over to make room for Remus to sit next to her.
"Seriously, the sexual tension in this compartment is making my stomach flop," Jaclyn commented, getting to her feet to make room for Remus to slide by. "However, I also want to check up on my brother since this is his first ride and all, so I'll be back in a little while, if you can all stand my absence for that long.
"We'll try to survive," Jamie replied, batting her eyes cheekily as she reached for Remus's hand.
"Yeah, I need to go patrol since I know Potter won't," Lily resigned, being able to read the fact Jamie wanted to be alone with Remus. "Would you care to join me, Lauren?"
"Oh, but I wanted to continue to be a hindrance," Lauren whined, but standing up nonetheless. "We'll be back, though."
"And I really don't want to walk in to my darling cousin snogging," Jaclyn added before Lily could successfully push them out of the compartment.
"Really, could you two be any bigger wankers?" Jamie and Remus heard Lily exclaim before sliding the door shut.
There was a moment of silence while Remus and Jamie adjusted to the sudden notion of them being alone and Remus turned to look at Jamie. "About that…"
Jamie laughed and slowly rubbed her thumb against Remus's silver thumb ring. "Sorry about that. A right group of gits, they are."
"You aren't constantly surrounded by James, Sirius, and Peter," Remus pointed out, describing his own group of friends, who were known around school as the Marauders.
"I suppose you're right," Jamie replied, looking up into Remus's brown eyes. "I missed you a lot this summer."
"Well, that's too bad, because I actually managed to find myself someone knew these past few months," Remus shrugged, averting his gaze from Jamie's eyes and out the window.
"Oh, shut it," Jamie responded, playfully socking him in the shoulder. Then, her face fell and she gave him a questioning look and slowly said, "You're joking, right?"
"Of course I'm joking, Jamie," Remus laughed, scoffing at her concern and kissing her on the forehead. "I missed you so much this summer. It took everything inside of me to not just Apparate to the States after I passed the test."
"I would have welcomed it, that's for sure," Jamie sighed, taking Remus's ring clear off his thumb. "It wasn't the most exciting trip, honestly."
"Well, we're together now," Remus noted, glancing around the compartment, then returning his gaze to Jamie and cocking on eyebrow. "Alone."
"Remus John Lupin," Jamie gasped, pretending to be offended. "I don't recall you ever being so forward."
"I haven't been alone with you in two months," Remus reminded her, sweeping her hair behind her ear and cupping her chin. "Did you expect me to be courteous?"
Meanwhile, Jaclyn stormed down the hallway of the train, without so much a look back at Lily and Lauren.
"What's with her?" Lauren questioned Lily, watching Jaclyn's blonde curls bounce away from her.
"I haven't a clue," Lily admitted, nodding towards the opposite direction that Jaclyn was heading. "But, I think we should let her cool down before we question it."
Jaclyn continued on her rampage, trying desperately to shake off the jealous feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. Finally, she reached her destination: the very end of the train, where there was a door that led to the outside platform. It was common knowledge that students weren't supposed to go onto the platform, but she didn't care.
"Alohomora," Jaclyn whispered, glad that no one was around to see her use her wand. Even though she was seventeen now and it was legal for her to use magic, she didn't want to attract any unwanted attention.
Jaclyn quickly slipped out onto the platform and leaned against one of the rails, letting the wind whip around her hair. She found it much more relaxing that she probably should have, but didn't care. After a few moments, she straightened up and sat down on the small platform, directly in front of the door.
"What is your problem, Carter?" Jaclyn asked herself before swearing under her breath. "She's your cousin."
Jaclyn sighed heavily. Since their first year at Hogwarts, she had found herself in the receiving end of her friend's problems - meaning, they were constantly coming to her for advice, leaving her to her thoughts by herself. Truthfully, she had always been fond of the solitude, but sometimes a person needs to have some to confide in other than a spiral bound notebook.
Normally, Jaclyn would go to Jamie, not only because they were cousins but also because they got along so famously. However, Jaclyn really wasn't sure how she could confront someone to tell them that they had had an on-going crush on their boyfriend since before they had even started dating.
Jaclyn had been interested in Remus since they were in their fifth year - when they had been assigned to be Potions partners. While they had been casual friends before that (their groups of friends ran side by side, despite Lily's extreme dislike for James), she had realized how interesting Remus was. However, at that same time, Jamie had begun to discover the same thing.
Jamie had been coming off a sour ending relationship with Sirius Black and Remus had been the first to pick her up, leaving them to start a relationship of their own that was still going strong, two years later. Over time, Jaclyn had learned to ignore the angry butterflies in the pit of her stomach that happened whenever she saw Jamie and Remus kiss or hold hands or just exchange a look, but sometimes it caught her off guard, like just moments ago when Remus came into the compartment.
Suddenly, the door was pushed from inside the train, not only knocking Jaclyn from her thoughts, but nearly off the train. She quickly jumped to her feet and prayed that she wouldn't be in any sort of trouble.
To her surprise, a boy with shaggy, black hair and piercing blue eyes walked onto the platform, quickly closing the door behind him. He jumped slightly when he noticed Jaclyn standing there, then recovered.
"Hi, Jaclyn," Sirius greeted, a tiny bit of questioning in his voice. "I thought I was the only one that came out here."
"Surprise," Jaclyn replied without any enthusiasm at all, leaning forward against the railing again, causing her hair to whip around once more.
"Careful," Sirius warned as the train started around a curve. "I don't want to have to explain to Dumbledore not only why I was out here, but how I let you fall to your death."
"Anything but that," Jaclyn sighed, backing up and sitting back down nonetheless. "So, what brings you to my domain, Mr. Black?"
For a moment, a look lingered on Sirius' face, as though he was trying to determine whether he should be joking or be frank. "I just needed some space to think," he decided on.
"Oh, well, I can leave - "
"No, no, you're fine," Sirius added hastily. "Actually, maybe you can help me."
Jaclyn's eyebrows shot up, threatening to be lost in her hairline. "The great Sirius Black is asking me, Jaclyn Carter, for advice? Who would have thought that the same boy who tried to trip me on my way up to be Sorted would - "
"You know, I could push you off this train," Sirius warned. "I don't really want to talk to Dumbledore, but I could think of something."
"All right, all right," Jaclyn resigned, turning her head to give him her complete attention. "What's up?"
"I like this girl - "
"Oh, Sirius, it's not another random Hufflepuff, is it?"
"No, Jaclyn, it is not," Sirius replied with a flare of anger, obviously rethinking his notion of going to her in the first place. "She's in our year, but she's dating a friend of mine. I've liked her for some time now, but - "
"Ah, I get it," Jaclyn nodded. "You like Jamie, but Remus is getting royally in the way."
"Yeah, I guess you could say that's the situation," Sirius sighed. "I basically haven't stopped having feelings for her since I let my hormones get the best of me and she broke up with me back in the day."
"I know the feeling," Jaclyn sympathized.
"Oh, yeah, I know you do," Sirius grinned, pushing his hair out of his face to no prevail, as the wind was too much. "Only you make it devastatingly obvious."
"I do not!" Jaclyn protested, then realizing the gravity of the situation. "Promise you won't say anything to Jamie or Remus."
"That depends," Sirius replied. "How much do you have on you?"
"Ha-ha, Sirius," Jaclyn said, wrapping her arms around her chest. "It's getting harder and harder. I mean, it wasn't so bad last year, but they've gotten steadily more serious."
"Uh, yeah, they've been together for, what, two years?" Sirius added.
"Yeah," Jaclyn agreed.
"Well, I'm glad we had this talk," Sirius said, grinning again. "Now that we've come to this conclusion, I think there's only one thing we can do."
"And that might be?" Jaclyn asked, giving Sirius a questioning look. She wasn't one for cryptic moments - she'd rather get straight to the point.
"We're going to be partners in crime," Sirius decided, holding his hand out for Jaclyn to shake. "We're going to break those two up."
At first, Jaclyn opened up her mouth to protest, but then she hesitated. Jamie had known when she and Remus had started dating that Jaclyn had feelings for him, no matter how small they might have been at the time. Who was she to try to ruin something like that? It was Jaclyn's turn for some happiness, as far as she was concerned. A large smile split across Jaclyn's face as she took Sirius's hand and shook it.
"Now, that's the Sirius Black I know and love," Jaclyn nodded, the twinkle in her grey eyes mirroring the one in Sirius's.
"We should probably head back to the compartment," Lauren noted, a Pumpkin Pasty in her hand.
"You just want to bust in on a potentially embarrassing situation for Jamie," Lily stated the obvious, a bag of Bertie Bott's in her own hand. "But, I really just want to sit down and not have to deal with the stares of awe from a bunch of first years anymore."
"That didn't sound conceited or anything," Lauren muttered.
"What?" Lily asked.
"Nothing," Lauren lied, stuffing more pasty into her mouth as they reached the compartment.
"Here goes," Lily braced herself, sliding the door.
Lucky for the two of them, the scene wasn't nearly as bad as they could have encountered. Remus was flipping through a random book that he had dug up from somewhere. When he looked up to greet Lily and Lauren, a streak of pink lipstick smudged along his jaw line was clearly visible to the two of them, forced a snort out of Lauren. Jamie, on the other hand, was finishing changing into her uniform and robes and, as she turned around to face the two girls, a glimpse of the beginnings of a hickey on her collarbone. Noticing them look, her face flushed slightly and she fixed her collar to hide it again.
"Hello," Jamie greeted, obviously trying to be nonchalant, but failing miserably. "Is there a problem?"
"No, none at all," Lily insisted, not bothering to hide her mocking smirk.
"Good," Jamie replied, taking a seat between Remus's legs, who raised his arms instinctively to allow Jamie to sink into his chest.
Lily and Lauren chose not to press the situation and sat down across from the two of them as the compartment door flung open, revealing James and Peter Pettigrew, both very exasperated. Without so much of a hello, they flew into the compartment and pulled the door back shut.
"Do we want to know?" Remus asked after a silent moment.
"You'll find out," James responded, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath.
"And you'll be very entertained," Peter, the fourth member of the Marauders, added, running his fingers through his light blonde hair, trying to get the same effect James's hair had, but not succeeding.
"I highly doubt that," Remus sighed as James took a seat next to Lily, much to her dismay, and Peter sat on the floor since Jamie and Remus were sprawled across the other seat. "I'm sure it's just something I'll have to smooth over."
"Now, now," James corrected Remus. "I do believe that I'm Head Boy. I won't be needing your little Prefect arse to do my bidding any longer."
"Is that what you're planning to do?" Lily asked heatedly. "Use your Head status to get away with a bunch of little pranks?"
"Lily, relax," Jamie put in. "He's only kidding." Lily crossed her arms, obviously annoyed and not relaxing, but shutting up nonetheless.
Before Lily could strike up an argument with James again, the door slid open once more, revealing Sirius and Jaclyn.
"Padfoot, you missed out on some good fun," James greeted as the two squished into the already small compartment.
"Really?" Sirius asked, his face filled with genuine dismay. "What'd you do?"
"You'll see," Peter said in a singsong voice from his spot on the floor.
"Move your big arse, Jamie," Jaclyn said, shoving her cousin's knees slightly. Jamie sighed in annoyance, but sat up straight on the seat to make room for Jaclyn as Sirius sat himself on James lap, who quickly shoved him onto the floor.
Before long, the eight seventh years were talking animatedly, any animosity or jealous between members temporarily forgotten. That is, of course, until the door flew open one more time, this time by Severus Snape, a fellow seventh year, but of the Slytherin House. His greasy hair was flailing about and his pale face was seemingly paler than they had ever seen.
"Potter!" he spat, glaring at the group. "Pettigrew! What did you do to me?"
James and Peter instantly started laughing, unable to contain themselves. Sirius looked from the two of them, then to Snape, who was doing what is unmistakably known across the world as the 'Potty Dance.'
"I think I have an idea," Sirius answered, grinning from ear to ear. "I take it you have to use the loo?"
Snape snapped his glare from James to Sirius, but nodded nonetheless. "What's the counter jinx for this? I demand you tell me now!"
"It's a Muggle thing," James managed to spurt out.
"We put it in your Pumpkin Juice," Peter finished, nearly rolling on the floor with laughter.
"Do you mean to say there is nothing I can do for this?" Snape said, clutching his stomach.
"I suggest you run to the bathroom," Sirius managed before he joined James and Peter's gales of laughter.
Snape continued to glare at the two of them until he couldn't stand it any longer and jetted down the corridor to the restroom that was on the train.
"I can't believe you did that," Lily said disapprovingly, despite the small smile on her lips, causing Jamie, Jaclyn, and Lauren to join in the laughter.
"Maybe he'll remember this next time he tries to call me 'Potty,'" James pointed out between laughs.
"Honestly," Remus rolled his eyes. "It isn't that funny."
"Oh, don't be a yawn, Remus," Jamie said, leaning over to kiss his lightly on the lips, which quickly turned deeper than they'd been expecting.
Seeing this, Jaclyn stopped laughing right away and couldn't help but feel the anger and jealousy she had sworn she'd try to push away. She looked at Sirius, who had the same expression on his own face. Their eyes met and he nodded to her. The plan was obviously on.
While her friends began to recover from their laughter and turn on Remus and Jamie by throwing different objects at them, Jaclyn realized just how much drama had already occurred this school year. 'And we haven't even gotten to the school yet,' she mused to herself. 'Hogwarts, here we come.'
Author's Note: This is much longer than I expected it would be. I had originally started by trying to rewrite/finish my trilogy "Strangest Friends" over on my other account, Aalina, but it morphed into this. So, yes, Jamie Williams has been used before, but she is my own character. :)
Make sure you let me know what you think - that little purple button is begging to be pushed!
Thank you, RisuMusume for bringing to my attention my inconsistency with Remus's middle name. I appreciate it!