The five marauders were heading down to the lake after their first day of classes three years later. Marty was humming quietly to herself, Sirius and James were coming up with prank ideas, Remus was focused on all the homework they had their first day, and Peter was just following his friends, happy to find people who liked him well enough. When they got to their tree by the lake, they stopped and sat under it.
"Back for fourth year!" Sirius exclaimed.
Three years had gone by in which the marauders had all become inseparable, pranking the whole school. None of them had found out Remus' or Marty's secret, or were even aware they were hiding anything. Though vampires and werewolves were supposed to be enemies, Marty thought of Remus as her best friend of the four guys she spent all her time with. Literally, all. She never really made friends with the girls, afraid that Lily'd told them about her and that they'd react the same way she did. It was why she never told the rest of the marauders about her, and why Remus had insisted that his secret be kept as well.
"Oh, is that Lily Evans?" James suddenly perked up. He saw the redhead with a couple of her friends from their year—Mary MacDonald and Marlene McKinnon. Marty rolled her eyes, an action not unnoticed by her friends.
"I know you don't like her because of whatever went on first year, but maybe you could get over that?" Sirius suggested. "If James starts dating her—because it's obvious he fancies her—you'll have to get over this."
"I am not mad at her," Marty replied. "She doesn't like me and I avoid her because of it. I don't really do confrontations."
"And so because of that you have to pull us away from her whenever one of us wants to talk to her?" Sirius asked. Marty just nodded and continued to hum quietly, drawing on a spare piece of parchment. Her head was bent low and her incredibly curly hair was falling in her face, and Sirius slowly pulled it back behind her ear so it wouldn't bother her. Marty didn't mind; on the contrary, it was normal for her and the guys to be in close proximity of her and for her to still be completely comfortable. She knew none of them liked her like that, and was perfectly fine with it. After all, who would like her at all?
"Oi! Lily!" James called, scaring Marty and making her hand shake and mess up her drawing. She scowled, an act that went unnoticed by James.
"Marty, watch it," Remus warned in a way that let her know her usually purple eyes were going red, signifying her anger. "What happened to not being mad at her?"
"Come on, you know me well enough to know I'm not going to let her uncalled for anger at me go unreciprocated," she replied. She picked up her quill which she was beginning to realize wasn't the best for drawing. Still, she continued drawing the wolf she was working on. Remus had challenged her to draw how she thought he looked as a wolf once, and she had loved drawing wolves ever since. Some girls read, some have multiple boyfriends, and Marty, well, she draws wolves.
"Marty!" a little second year girl called to her older sister.
"Hey, Ana," Marty replied as the younger one approached. Ana had come to Hogwarts in Marty's third year, and while she thought Ana being alone seeing her sister only at nights was a bad idea, with Ana's tendency to go a bit batshit crazy, it had turned out fine. Ana even got along with her sister's friends, and was the only outsider to know that the five of them were the marauders. They all thought they could trust Marty's sister well enough.
Ana sat in front of her sister. Sirius was next to Marty on her left and Peter on her right. James had run off to see Lily, and Remus was obliviously working on homework like he always did.
"Can you believe the amount of homework the teachers give us?" she asked. "We're only second years!"
"Wait until you get to fourth," Peter commented, and Marty glanced at him in shock. He hardly ever spoke around anyone except the guys and her. But she waved it off as nothing and continued.
"Yeah, until you have Arithmancy and Muggle Studies, don't start complaining to me," Marty added.
"Divination's pretty terrible too," Sirius reminded her.
"No way, Professor Trelawny loves me," Marty argued.
"That woman is batshit crazy," Sirius disagreed.
"Um, little sister," Marty reminded him, pointing toward Ana.
"What does 'batshit' mean?" the innocent girl asked. Trevor and Aunt Lila had always tried to protect the little girl from bad words and anything sexual, and expected Marty to do the same while in school. Marty didn't see the point, but her Aunt Lila would go mad if she heard her twelve year old angel saying things like "batshit."
"Nothing, sweetie," Marty replied sweetly.
"Sirius is a bad boy," Peter added. "He has a dirty mouth."
"Then why was that girl kissing him last night?" Ana asked. "Or do they both have dirty mouths, so it didn't matter?"
Marty and Peter looked confused. "What girl?" Marty asked.
"Some pretty blond girl," Ana replied. "I don't know her name, but she was pretty when she turned around."
"Alexia Martin," Sirius said proudly. "I never told you I had a girlfriend? Or maybe a better word would be—"
Marty cut him off with a glare and leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Say bitch or whore and I'll personally have someone murder you." She sat back and smiled.
"I think you just mean you'd have someone murder me, because if you aren't murdering me, it's not really you personally," he pointed out.
Marty sighed and turned to Ana. "You see what I have to live with?"
"Why'd you move in with the boys then?" she asked.
"I've already explained this to you. Two words: Lily. Evans."
"Oh right," she said quietly. "You know, people always come up to me and ask me if you're sleeping with one of the guys you room with."
"And what do you say?"
"I tell them that you're sleeping with them all because you guys all sleep in the same room. Then they laugh and say you're a whore."
"Never repeat that word either!" Marty snapped.
"I'm just telling you what they said…" Ana trailed off. "Well, I have a lot of homework to do," she added. "I'm just gonna go back to the common room." Ana stood and ran away from her sister.
"You didn't have to get so mad at your sister," Peter said.
"I'm not mad at her, I'm mad because I just found out people think I'm a whore."
"I don't," Sirius said.
"Well you're my friend and would never say something like that to my face at least," Marty replied. "But, I mean, I'm no better than those girls you date, in other people's minds."
"The girls I date are not whores," Sirius said defensively. "You've met Alexia, she's very smart and nice."
"Not when you're done with her she won't be," Marty replied.
"Your sister's really sheltered," Peter noticed. "What happened to you?"
"I met this one," Marty said, nudging Sirius, who laughed.
"Yeah, I corrupted her. You have no idea the things I've done—"
"This conversation is over!" Marty snapped playfully.
o.O.o
Marty never really paid much mind to others, but after finding out what people had been saying about her, she began to see how people whispered when they saw her and laughed. She wanted to just yell out to them, "I'm not sleeping with any of these guys!" but knew it wouldn't make a difference. Besides, soon they would have something else to gossip about. The rumor mill was cold and unfeeling to its victims, but it had a short attention span and moved on quickly. That's what Marty kept telling herself would happen. As soon as something exciting happened, everyone would forget about her.
"Why is everyone staring at us?" James asked on the way to the common room. "Did someone find out about the marauders?"
"Shhh!" Sirius shushed him. "Didn't you hear? Ana basically told the whole school that Marty was a whore."
"She did not!" Marty snapped. "People asked her if I was sleeping with you guys, and well, we know Ana's a bit sheltered. She didn't get it, that's all."
"You know, ya whore," Sirius said quietly, "if you're looking for guys to screw…"
"You can stop right there," Marty said.
"Yeah, I don't really need those mental images," James added from behind the two.
o.O.o
Marty was back to her humming as she and the guys went up to their room to go to bed that night. Sirius liked to hear her sing and hum; she had a pretty voice. He found himself reveling over it, even though he had no idea why.
"So, you know what Lily told me today?" James began, and the rest of the marauders looked up.
"She told you she's madly in love with you?" Marty guessed.
"Er…no, why would you say that?" James asked.
"Oh, the fact that you so fancy her." She pulled the curtains closed around her bed but she could still hear James' mutterings.
"I do not fancy her."
Marty didn't think anyone else could hear him, it was so quiet.
"Well who do you fancy then?" James asked to change the subject.
"That is the most pathetic subject change I've ever heard," Marty noted. She opened the curtains when she had finished changing into her pajamas, and noticed the guys, minus Sirius, were still changing so she just sat on her bed.
"And that is the most pathetic way of avoiding my change in subject I've ever heard," he retorted.
"Would you two quit bickering?" Remus asked tiredly. "We hear it enough from Marty and Sirius."
"We don't bicker that much," Sirius disagreed.
"Just today, Marty practically went mad over your girlfriend," Peter added in, then ducked his head shyly. He always did that after saying something that seemed like he was taking sides.
"I did no such thing! I was simply trying to censor his language in front of my little sister," Marty defended herself. "You can't go around saying 'batshit' and 'whore' in front of twelve year olds and expect me to let you get away with it."
"Okay, okay," Sirius said. "What do I have to do to apologize?"
"A simple snogging would do," Remus muttered, and I turned around and glared. Sirius looked confused; apparently, Remus had spoken too quietly for him to hear, knowing I would.
"Never mind," Marty said.
"Well then, I'm just going to go see my whore," Sirius said pointedly.
"Use a condom," she called after him.
"A what?" Sirius asked.
"Oh right, wizards have a potion for that." At his confused look, Marty clarified. "A contraceptive potion." Sirius blushed slightly, and Marty smiled, satisfied.
"Maybe you really are a whore?" Remus suggested from his bed.
"No way," Marty said, smiling again. "Otherwise, I would not be sitting here while three guys changed."
"This is true," James agreed with her.
"You would know?" Marty asked.
"Well, judging by the three girls I've snogged over summer, I'd have to agree."
"I JUST MEANT," Remus yelled to get their attention, "that you can't just say stuff like using a condom to Sirius and not get all embarrassed over it."
"Sure I can. But you can't," she added, sticking her tongue out maturely.
Remus laughed at her. "That was mature," he said.
"Come sit on mine and Sirius' beds," James ordered. "Prank planning time!"
James and Peter sat on James' bed, and Remus and Marty sat on Sirius'. That's how they were sitting, planning pranks for the upcoming year when Sirius slipped in the room after midnight. Marty smiled when she saw him. He came to sit by her.
"Hey Siri," James said, using his nickname he used when he wanted to make Sirius mad. But Sirius didn't get mad; instead, he just sat down on the bed. "How's Alexia?" James asked.
"Great," he replied, smirking.
"You guys are ridiculous," Marty said, yawning. She laid back on the bed and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she was asleep.
