Disclaimer: As I mentioned in the last chapter, my name in not Joanne K Rowling, therefore I do not own any of the characters mentioned other than the mysterious girl who is of my own creation.
In the previous chapter: Overall Summary: On King's Cross Station, Platform 9 ¾ the main characters of this fan fiction, namely Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Lily Evans and Severus Snape, who is mentioned quite regularly although he doesn't play a major part in this, are boarding the Hogwarts Express and wait for the train to arrive at Hogwarts, but who is the strange girl who appeared, and what does she want?
Chapter 2: Back to Hogwarts
The light was fading outside the windows of the Hogwarts Express, the evening falling like a shroud upon the countryside. The four boys looked out of the window, Remus frowned.
"I think we'd better get changed into our robes…"
"Yeah, Moony's right, I don't particularly want to get a detention from McGonagall on the first day of school because we didn't get into our robes in time, that would be the worst detention ever…"
Sirius stood on the compartment table and reached up to get the suitcases. Out of the four boys, Sirius was the tallest and probably the best-looking. Unlike James, who only had sights for one girl, and the few times he'd been out with other girls was to try to get over Lily Evans, Sirius Black had been out with a lot of girls and he didn't really like any girl in particular, due to the fact that they were all too easy to win over or that they hated him, like Lily, or were in Slytherin and were best left alone. His mother constantly told him that if he were to get a serious girlfriend, she'd have to be pure-blood, which of course, with Sirius being Sirius, was an invitation, a challenge, if you'd like, to go out with all of the muggle-born and half-blood witches that were close enough in age as he possibly could. Sirius threw the suitcases down one at a time, telling the person who it belonged to before he threw the case down to him. The little system which he had started, however, was ruined when Peter Pettigrew, who was eating, not paying attention and therefore didn't hear his name called out, was hit full in the face by his trunk.
"OUCH!" Peter took the suitcase off his face and looked up at Sirius sullenly. "You could have called my name out, you know! Now my face hurts…"
"Wormtail, if your face was anything to look at, I'd apologise, but being as your face is rather messed up anyway, any mark left there by the suitcase is probably an improvement." Sirius was always annoyed with Peter, ever since third year. Whenever he tried to remember what it was that was disturbing him, however, it was like trying to hold water in your hands, and the water just keeps running through your fingers. He just couldn't remember, but something told him not to trust the idiotic boy…
Peter continued whimpering while they all reached into their trunks and found their uniform, which consisted of a white shirt, a red and gold tie, a blazer or a jumper, black trouser or a black skirt and robes (I'm going by the film version of the uniform, but the robe is more like a mage's robe). The boys put on their uniform and robes etc. before putting on their ties and tying them. As they finished tying their ties, the train pulled into the station and the moon shone through the windows of the compartment.
"Moony, is the moon close enough to a full moon that you'll transform or not?" Sirius asked, a hint of worry in his voice. Even though full moons where some of the best moments for pranking people, James and Sirius were well aware that the transformation from human to werewolf was very painful for Remus, so it was natural for James and Sirius to be worried. Peter, however, either didn't care or didn't understand, and again, a bad feeling nagged at Sirius as he thought about it.
"No. if I were to transform, the moon would have to be almost entirely in the full glare of the sun, a full moon is the whole moon reflecting the sun's light, but right now, the earth is blocking some of the light from the sun from reflecting back onto the planet." … Peter looked at Remus with a stupefied expression on his face while James and Sirius blinked, looked at one another shrugged and turned back to look at Remus.
"Come again?" was James's question while Sirius didn't say anything and merely looked at Remus as if slightly worried about how Remus knew that.
"You didn't understand a single thing I said just now, did you?" Remus raised an eyebrow accusingly. James and Sirius both shook their heads slowly, while Peter's expression didn't change at all. "I won't repeat myself, because even if I explained it, it would go in through one ear and out through the other."
A few moments later, the world outside the train windows darkened and became fuzzy, as if a cloud had gone past the window, and in some ways it was a cloud, a cloud of steam caused by the train as the Hogwarts Express pulled to a stop at the train station. The Marauders, namely James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, picked up their trunks and filed out of the compartment door, only to meet two people who hated all four of them more than anyone else.
Lily Evans and Severus Snape had been walking down the corridor when they encountered the pranksters who they hated. Lily almost crashed into James as James flung open the compartment door and strode out, so technically it was James who crashed into Lily and not the other way around. Sirius, whether it was on purpose or not, barged into Snape, started to apologise but when seeing who it was said "You deserved that, Snivellus!" with a nasty tone of voice. Lily almost hexed him, but then Remus's words echoed in her head "Leave them, they're not worth it…" and held herself back. Hagrid was standing on the station platform, calling for the first years to follow him, as usual, and then strode off with a trail of small children of age eleven behind him towards the lake. The self-drawn carriages stopped in front of the rest of the pupils and slowly the station platform emptied. Lily and Severus boarded a carriage near the end, but she didn't realise that it was the very carriage that the Marauders had singled out, and for the third time that day, the two groups came head-to-head.
"Hey Evans, how are you then?" James's attempts at flirting were failing but Lily didn't bother to comment on it, she merely turned her head and ignored the other boys, even Severus. "Aw, come on, what have I done this time!" James whined.
"You were born, Potter, now be quiet before I hex you" Lily replied in an overly sweet tone of voice, and James knew she was mocking him, daring him to talk, so he just crossed his arms and stared the other way, blanking Lily out in the same way she was blanking him out, though he did chance a few glances her way to see if she was looking at him.
The journey towards the castle of Hogwarts continued in this manner until Remus spoke. "I wonder what the Sorting Hat will sing about this year and what it will be trying to tell us…" James and Sirius inwardly groaned, but Lily popped her head up and looked at Remus, the strange expression from before crossing her face. The group of seven disembarked the carriage and made their way towards the great hall. Lily said goodbye to Snape and made her way to the Gryffindor table along with the other Gryffindors. As was customary, the moment the four Marauders entered the hall, a group of female admirers flocked around James and Sirius. Remus ignored the hubbub and sat next to Lily on the Gryffindor table while Peter was almost stepped on and suffocated by the oncoming tide of fervent admirers.
"What do you want" was Lily's first remark when Remus sat next to her. He winced at being addressed so rudely and tried to keep his voice from quivering. Although Remus was not usually scared of Lily, there were moments when it was hard not to feel the least bit intimidated
"I just thought that you might appreciate the company"
"If you've come here to talk about Potter, then forget it, I'm not interested" came her blunt reply. She hated the way James Potter always used Remus, the one that she liked most out of the four boys, to tell Lily how great he thought he was and bragging in general. Remus himself would never do anything like that, it was always James that was behind those sorts of things, or Sirius Black, and he was her second least favourite. Another arrogant, big headed not as annoying as Potter but bad enough that she never spoke to him more than for common decency, a Hello, or a Goodbye, but she never had a conversation with him.
"Actually, I was going to have a conversation about the cycles of the moon and how the moon shines being as the three 'block-heads' over there don't understand a single word of what I try to say…"
Lily blinked a few times before smiling warmly at Remus "Sorry I snapped at you, I thought that this would be another one of block-head Potter's schemes to get me to go out with him…" she trailed off, and looked towards the throng, which was thinning out rapidly.
Remus noticed this and changed the topic, "What do you know about were wolves?" she was the smartest witch in their year, so he figured that she'd be accurate with the facts.
"If I'm perfectly honest, I don't know that much about were wolves, but that's mainly because no teacher has ever taught us about that yet, but I have read several books and know enough about how to deal with a were wolf if one attacked me…" Remus flinched slightly and made a mental note to keep away from her on a full moon. Lily spotted this, of course and smiled to herself before taking Remus by surprise at how much she really knew "Remus, I know what you are, but when I say I know how to deal with them, I mean that I know how to stop them from harming others while not harming the were wolf. I've known for a while now, and I read several books so that in the case that anyone, even those idiots over there-" she jabbed her thumb in the direction of the rather flattened Peter and the two idiot faced boys who were looking dazed by the attention "-were in danger, I'd be able to stop them from being harmed while not hurting you."
Remus was surprised when she said that she knew what he was, but was amazed at the precautions Lily had taken to protect others from his beastly side while causing him no harm, it took him a while to answer, and when he did, he still stumbled over some words, and by the time he was coherent enough, the three 'block-heads', as Lily had described them, had sat down next to Remus and James was looking at the two of them with a look of disappointment on his face. "How did you- When did you- What?" Was all that Remus could manage.
"I'll answer your questions some other time" she said, noticing the look that James was directing at the two of them. "And if you-" directing it at James "- are thinking what I think you're thinking then don't think about it." Implying that if James was suggesting that she and Remus had any sort of relationship going on she would make him sorry. James's face filled with relief at hearing Lily utter those words, making her wish she'd never denied it, she preferred him when he was annoyed and not talking to her than having his attention.
Everyone's attention was averted, however, when the first years came into the great hall and lined up against the wall, while Minerva McGonagall brought out the stool and placed the Sorting Hat on it. The Sorting Hat began its song (I won't even try to make up a song because it would probably be the most idiotic song ever created) and the Sorting Ceremony began. Professor McGonagall started calling out the names on the list and one by one, the first years walked up and were placed in their houses. Whenever a Gryffindor was called up, all the Gryffindors rose and applauded. Whenever a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw was called out, the Gryffindor table clapped politely while the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables all rose and applauded them. If a Slytherin was called, however, the Gryffindors took to shouting insults at the Slytherins, all of them, and generally making noises of objection. When the very last first year was sorted, Professor Dumbledore stood up and made the usual speech as he always did at the start of the year. "Welcome! Welcome back to those who have been here before and a very warm welcome to those who have just arrived!" as usual. "Now, I must give you the announcements. The Forbidden Forest is out of bounds as it has been for a very long time, the Astronomy Tower is prohibited unless permission has been given by a teacher and please, for all of those, and I know you exist, anyone who is planning any pranks that are irresponsible or dangerous, please think through them and make sure that the prank is as safe as possible, or an even better idea would be not to perform the prank at all. I shall now introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody." Mutters of surprise and shock ran up and down the great hall. The Auror stood forwards and gave a small speech.
"If you're wondering why I've come to teach at Hogwarts, I'm going to tell you now. I'm only saying it once so you better listen. Lord Voldemort-" sharp intakes of breath were heard at the mention of the name "-has, as you probably all know, begun to make big moves. People are disappearing, mysterious deaths are occurring and he is gathering followers. Once you leave school, you will no longer be under the school's protection, which means that if you cannot defend yourselves and you chose to join the war that will most likely break out, the chances of Voldemort's followers hunting you down and killing you are high. You may have guessed by the nature of my speech that I am giving that I am going to teach you how to defend against dark magic of a nature that you will hopefully never have to face. Work hard and later in life you will survive, fail and you may pay forfeit your lives." The Auror returned to his seat at the professors' table.
"Now, without further ado… Let the feast begin!" The plates and bowls and goblets that had seconds before been empty became laden with food and pumpkin juice filled all of the goblets and jugs on the tables. The hall went from deathly silent and listening to Dumbledore to noisy and loud, everyone began eating and talking and in general enjoying the Feast.
Lily was the first to finish eating the main course, she was hungry, she hadn't eaten anything on the train and the last proper meal she had was breakfast at around eight to nine o'clock that morning. The one who finished their main course second was Peter, and eating was about the only thing he was actually good at, and he was followed by Sirius, James and Remus, who were all close together in their finishing times. The Marauders were sitting and relaxing while Lily got out a book and started reading, a frown on her face as she read the Defence Against the Dark Arts book. They would be learning how to defend against Dementors, Death Eaters and other creatures that were likely to work with Voldemort. She was halfway through the first chapter when the food on the table vanished for a few seconds before all sorts of sweets and deserts filled all the plates and bowls. Lily, after noticing the change in atmosphere, put the book down and looked in wonder at all of the delights that were on the table. As usual, there were a lot of rare delicacies and just as many common puddings and sweets. She carefully reached over and picked up a chocolate mousse and tried a small spoonful of it before devouring it within a few moments. There were trifles and chocolates, mints, cakes and basically every single item of food that could be described as a desert, even chocolate covered insects, that Lily didn't eat of course, but others did. Slowly every student in the hall was full and started leaning over or struggling to stay awake. Dumbledore knew that this was always the case and told McGonagall who it was that the strange girl had asked for.
"Children, it is getting late and as I see things now, you all look tired and have had enough to eat." This, for the most part, was true, but there is always one who still continues eating after they're full, like Peter. "Prefects, if you could please lead the first years to the common rooms and give the students in your houses the password, you are all dismissed from the hall!"
The students all began to file out of the Great Hall and made their way towards the marble staircase. Professor McGonagall walked as fast as she could to catch up with three of the people on the list, knowing that the fourth was likely to leave the hall after everyone else. "Boys!" she called out, trying to get through the crowd that was swarming around her. "Potter, Black and Lupin, STOP!" she said, loud enough that they turned around. "Come back down here, I need a word," the four boys, being as Peter followed them, made their way towards Professor McGonagall, who was standing in the Entrance Hall. "Pettigrew, I didn't call your name out and therefore, I must ask you to follow the rest of your house up to Gryffindor Tower." Peter gave the others a depressed look and shuffled away. "Now, you three wait here while I find Miss Evans."
James, Sirius and Remus looked at each other and James voiced their concern. "You don't she told on us, do you?"
"I can't blame her if she did…" was Sirius's reply, while Remus said nothing and looked at the floor.
Lily walked towards the three boys, noticing immediately that Pettigrew wasn't there, relief flooded her. She didn't know why, but she, like Sirius, Remus and James, had a bad feeling about Pettigrew.
The moment James and Sirius saw her they looked at her and frowned, asking her whether she had told McGonagall. She shook her head, not knowing the reason they were all there.
"Follow me please; Professor Dumbledore would like a word." Fear gripped the four teenagers, (you couldn't really call them children anymore) as McGonagall uttered Dumbledore's name.
Dumbledore was still sitting at the staff table while enjoying a Cockroach Cluster, when he looked up. "Ah, good, I need to speak to you!" he said in a light, conversational tone. "Are you aware of what this is?" he asked, and held up the envelope, sealed with a crest that was dimly familiar. "Read it, but I suggest you open it in the common room, and make sure no-one is around, it is addressed to you four and therefore it should be you four who read it and only you"
This was longer than I meant it to be, ah well, enjoy, and please review!
