Second Chapter! Wheee! Please, R&R, and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome. In this installment, I introduce my very own OC. Feel free to hate on her, she deserves it. And don't worry, she's NOT going to be one of those Mary-Sues. Bear with me, her character will improve.

PS: Big thank you to ImSiriuslyLupin4you for beta-ing this story. Sorry, I forgot to give you credit sooner.

"JAAAAAMES!"

"SIRIUUUUS!"

Crash, bang, clatter. James flew past Remus, knocking his trunks over. One of them opened up and spilled his underwear everywhere.

Sigh.

James rugby-tackled Sirius and they fell heavily to the floor. Sirius rolled and pinned James to the floor. Peter joined in exuberantly, sitting heavily on the both of them. James and Sirius cried out.

"Ack!"

"Gerrof!"

Peter giggled.

Remus sat on an overturned suitcase and watched the two of them wiggle helplessly from underneath Peter's large rear end. People on the crowded train station turned their heads as they walked by. After all, there were three kids in a scrum on the floor who were wearing flamboyant red and gold clothing and sporting caged owls on their luggage carts.

Remus waved at a Muggle who was staring at him suspiciously, and turned to Sirius.

"Hello?" he asked, leaning over to look him in the face.

"Hi." Sirius grinned weakly from the bottom of the pile.

They slipped unseen through the barrier in the brick wall and onto the crowded platform. Remus inhaled deeply and sighed, listening to the chatter. It smelled like smoke and magic. They dragged their luggage onto the train went to the back to the compartment they had sat in for the past two years. This year, however, there was a trio of unsuspecting first years sitting mutely on their hands. James took one look at them, turned a ferocious red, and blew up.

"OUT! GET OUT! NOOOW!"

They tripped over their own feet in their haste to leave. One of them was actually crying.

"James! Be nice to the first years." Remus scolded, shoving his trunk onto the luggage rack.

"This is our compartment." Sirius stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"And how are they supposed to know that? It's not like there's a sign or anything." Peter piped up as he unwrapped one of those yard-long chocolate bars and began to stuff his face.

"There should be." James grumbled, then took out his wand and began writing on the door in fiery letters.

THIS COMPARTMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF JAMES POTTER

"Really, James? That'll be removed soon enough." Remus remarked.

"Let 'em try." James muttered smugly.

The compartment door slammed open, and it was as though time stood still.

A tall, fourth year girl pranced in, holding on tightly to a backpack. She paused for a moment and let her presence sink in. Remus didn't know her name, but she sure looked familiar. What was her name? Melanie... Marla... Melva...

"I am Melinda Jenkins." She announced to the four of them, and sat down.

She didn't ask. She told.

James blinked, surprised.

"Can't you read the sign?" he admonished.

Melinda ignored him.

"So... ehm..." Sirius began, addressing Melinda, "I'm Sirius Black."

It took her a minute to realize he was speaking to her. "Oh. Hello, I guess."

Sirius shot her a lopsided smile.

Remus surveyed Melinda. She had straight black hair down to her waist, wore square glasses and had forest-green eyes. Very pretty, he thought, and apparently Sirius has noticed that too.

The train went over a bump. Melinda's bag fell out of her arms and started to jump around on the floor. Remus was, at first, mildly surprised, but after a few years of living in a magical community, inanimate objects moving about of their own accord is no longer a wondrous sight. Melinda sighed in an irritated manner and stepped on her backpack to keep it still. It twitched feebly.

"Hufflepuffs thought they'd have a go at me." She explained to the awkward silence.

James snorted. "Really? You got bested by a Hufflepuff?"

"Oh, not bested. The minute they fall asleep I'm sneaking into their dorm and setting it loose."

James and Sirius looked at her appraisingly. "You know how to get into the Hufflepuff dorms?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, yes, known since first year. It's not that hard, really."

"Tell us! Tell us!" Peter chirped, bouncing up and down on his seat."

The door to the compartment slammed open once more. Remus flinched and rubbed his ears. They were starting to ring.

Sirius jumped to his feet. "Malfoy."

James groaned and stood up too. "Can nobody read the sign?"

Indeed, it was none other than Lucius Malfoy himself. He wasn't alone. He had two other Slytherins with him. Remus knew the one on the left was named Avery, but he didn't recognize the other.

Lucius surveyed the fiery letters on the door as though they were a particularly interesting flobberworm.

"Black." He purred, sweeping into the compartment, "I hear you have turned into quite the... character... these past few months."

Sirius stood up abruptly and faced him. "My business is none of yours, Malfoy. Go flutter back to that cave where you came from and leave my personal life alone."

"Oh, I've hit a sensitive spot, have I?" Malfoy snickered, then turned cold. "Well, heed this warning, Black. If you refuse to learn to... behave yourself... then you will suffer the consequences."

"What do you think you're going to do to him?" James snarled, jumping in between them, "You'll harm a hair on his head over my dead body."

"Yeah!" Peter chimed from the corner, "What he said!"

The air was changing in the room. Avery and whatshisname were slowly taking out their wands. James and Sirius hadn't noticed yet. They were too busy staring Malfoy down. Remus silently signaled to Peter. Peter glanced at Malfoy's bodyguards and nodded, trembling.

Remus fingered his wand in his pocket. Just a few more seconds.

One... Two... Thre-

Avery pointed his wand at James and there was a bang like a firecracker. Remus was quick with a deflection charm and the spell ricocheted off the wall and hit the lamp, which exploded and burned his face. Lucius hit Sirius in the gut with some sort of hex, and he doubled over in pain. The other Slytherin pointed his wand at James, but was blasted backwards into the hallway by a powerful curse by none other than...

Melina Jenkins.

Sirius, who had fumbled for his wand, performed his signature incendiary curse and Lucious fled from the room screaming, with his hair, unfortunately, intact.

Avery grabbed Peter by the collar and pressed his wand to his forehead. Peter, seemly forgetting his magical powers, jabbed his wand powerfully into Avery's kidneys and kicked him in the groin. Jenkins did a fabulous incarcerous charm and Avery joined his friend on the floor.

James, with broken glasses hanging off his face, fell to his knees and shook Sirius's shoulder.

"Sirius! Are you all right?"

"Aaaah!" Sirius cried out, clutching his stomach.

"Stand back." Melinda ordered and began a complicated wand movement.

"No, I'll do it." Remus grumbled, pushing her away.

"Lupin, get out of here." She snapped.

Remus bristled. Sirius called out again, and Remus lost himself for a minute. Melinda completed the countercurse and pulled Sirius onto the bench. Remus sat down, his head spinning and feeling violated.

"Is he going to be all right?" James asked frantically as he repaired his glasses.

Jenkins expertly felt Sirius's stomach, pushing experimentally to see if he felt any pain. Sirius didn't scream or cringe.

"He'll be fine. No solid foods for six hours." she stated.

James sighed in relief. "Thanks a million, Melinda. You can sit in our compartment any time."

Melinda smiled just a little and wiped the sweat off Sirius's face with a handkerchief.

Remus watched her touching Sirius and felt something shift in his chest. It was like a great gallumping ogre from the deepest depths of his soul was coming out into the world and whacking him again and again on the heart. Remus hadn't really felt jealousy before, and he didn't quite know what it was yet, but he certainly didn't like it. He certainly didn't like her. Or the way Sirius was staring into her eyes.