Chapter 2 : Omens and Ending Arguments
They all settled into the compartment comfortably enough and each started doing their own thing. A game of exploding snaps had begun involving James, Sirius and Peter in one corner of the compartment. It was a very intense game, as always. Remus had already taken out one of his favorite books that he was immediately drawn into, although, he had to keep one eye on the game that was taking place to his left. He was to referee if anything fowl began to take place between them(as they often did).
Lily settled into the seat next to Gabrielle and as far away from the game as possible, which positioned her next to the door uncomfortably. She sat across from Remus watching people walk past their compartment counting the minutes until she could escape to the Prefects' compartment. She loved Gabrielle and liked to spend time with her but she couldn't help but to wish that her friend would pull herself away from the Marauders every once in a while.
Gabrielle was telling Lily about her summer, which had been spent mostly with James and Sirius but she had escape for ten days to stay with her eldest brother in France. "...and oh, Lily! It was beautiful! I had half a mind never to leave again but, of course, if I had I am sure that James and Sirius would never forgive me, nor my mother. And of course there was this amazing boy there that I am sure I have told you about in an owl. Unfortunately, he was a muggle and life would have been to difficult if anything developed further but he was great to spend time with while I was there and-" she gushed rapidly but was cut off by James. She glared at him angrily but didn't say anything.
"Come on, girls! Play with us," James called and Sirius wiggled his eyebrows at them from beside James. They had obviously not taken any note that the girls were already doing something. It wouldn't be like them to think about that anyway.
Lily shook her head at them and tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. "That's a ridiculous game. You are just waiting for it to explode in your face," she said offhandedly and turned to Gabrielle. She had only just realized that she had barely listened to anything her friend had said but had only nodded and smiled appropriately. "I'm awfully sorry, Gabs, but I should really get going. I should like to get to the Prefects' compartment early so that I can talk to the Head Boy. You can tell me more about your summer later," she said with excitement. She glanced at Remus out of the corner of her eye as she stood. She wanted him to be the head boy but he hadn't said that he was. She couldn't imagine who else it could be. "Come on, Remus. You should come along, too," she added before exiting the compartment.
Remus closed his book and stood once Lily had disappeared into the corridor. He turned to James with a hint of a smile on his face. "Come on, James. Lily said that she wanted to meet with the Head Boy. You better hurry up and go meet with her," he said to James, his smile spreading across his lips. James looked up at Remus and then looked back down at the game he was playing that was starting to get heated.
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. She had already completely forgotten about her irritation with them and had silently forgiven them. "I'll take your place, James. You have to go to the Prefects' compartment. Lils will be waiting for you," she told him smiling as he stood and she slid down into his spot beside Sirius and across from Peter. Remus and James left the compartment, James calling after Lily who must not have gotten far enough down the corridor to be out of sight from the two boys.
Remus returned every so often to avoid his rounds but neither James or Lily ever came back to the compartment. The game was finished soon after James left and Gabrielle had beat the two boys, which they argue wasn't fair. Peter had fallen asleep in the corner while Sirius and Gabrielle pigged out on the sweets they had bought when the trolly came past, eventually falling into a comfortably position with Sirius' feet up on the seat beside Peter and Gabrielle stretched across the seat she shared with him, her head rested in his lap. Gabrielle was snorting with laugher when James came back to the compartment as the station came into view and it was announced that they would be there in a few short minutes. They woke up Peter as Remus joined them as well.
Gabrielle continued searching for Lily as they exited the train and started to board the carriages. She spotted Lily getting onto one of the carriages that was still empty. She rushed over to meet her with the Marauders in tow and they all climbed in, putting as much space between James and Lily as possible since Lily looked so unhappy with him. She just glared at James from her seat throughout the whole bumpy ride up to the castle.
"I still can't get used to those thestrals. I mean, its been three years since we saw your grandfather die, James, but I just can't seem to shake this feeling that hovers over me when I see them. This feeling of death, almost like a reminder," Gabrielle told them as they all piled out of a single carriage in front of the large wooden doors to Hogwarts. Lily glanced over at them and shuddered slightly and turned away from them quickly.
"Way to bring down our mood, Gabs. We were all happy to start our last year of school and you had to bring the omen of death into our conversation," Sirius complained nudging her with his elbow as they walked inside with the rest of the students, excluding the first years, of course.
"Last I recalled you are the omen of death, Padfoot," Remus countered Sirius, coming to Gabrielle's rescue. He gave her a smile that she didn't catch since he stood on the very edge of their group. She just happened to be facing in towards Sirius and James who dominated the center of the group, as usual.
"I think you all need to stop bickering over things that don't even make sense. There is no way that Sirius could actually be the omen of death since that's a dog. Of course you meant metaphorically. Right, Remmy?" James said to them, jerking his head towards Lily not-so-subtly. He hoped that they would interpret it in the way he meant it. Which was that she didn't know about Remus' 'furry little problem' nor their illegal animagus forms and he wanted to keep it that way for the time being.
Lily rolled her eyes at James and crossed her arms angrily. She was already angry with him and that comment only added to the fire. "There is no reason to be discreet in front of [i]me[/i], Potter. Even though you may be too thick to piece simple things together, I am not. I've know about Remus' condition since second year and it wasn't hard to figure out that you three are unregistered animagi when you began to sneak off with him at his time of month. Not to mention, your little nicknames are a dead giveaway," she told him with a smug look on her face.
Two jaws dropped open, gaping at the smug girl. These jaws, of course, belonged to James and Sirius. They had stopped in their tracks causing a few people to knock into the group as they all stopped to look at the two boys. Dirty looks were thrown at them as people walked around them and into the Great Hall but they were all ignored. If this news had come only a minute later they would have been sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall but instead they were standing in the Entrance Hall in shock.
"But-" "How did you?" "It is?" "No way" "Who?" "How?" "What?" These were the only words that the two boys could manage to utter as they looked at the girl in disbelief. They thought that their plan had been flawless and that no one would figure it out. They had underestimated the brilliant girl they claimed to know so well. Gabrielle and Remus shared a look that clearly showed how often they had to deal with this disbelieving look the boys were displaying. They were often surprised by other's knowledge. They thought that no one was able to predict their actions or understand their way of thinking.
Gabrielle grabbed a hold of Sirius and Remus did the same with James and they steered the boys into the Great Hall, sitting them down across from each other at the table. They didn't have more than a minute to settle in before Professor McGonagall shuffled in the fresh batch of frightened first years who would be sorted in front of the school. The boys got over their shock and made Lily take their 'oath' to never tell anyone about the illegal animagus forms or Remus' problem. She followed along, completely over what had caused her anger with James earlier, until they insisted that she stood and chanted the Hogwarts' song. Fortunately for her Remus told her that it was unnecessary and that she was trustworthy.
A tall, lanky girl with mousy brown hair, bold blue eyes and freckled skin hurried into the hall once Dumbledore completed his speech and sat down next to Lily immediately immersing into a conversation, no doubt, about why she was late. Her name was Emmeline Vance.
Everyone dug into the food once it appeared on the table. The boys and Gabrielle all had at least three hardy helpings, Sirius continuing on to his sixth helping while James had stopped at fifths. Lily and Emmeline only had one helping and sat in disgust as they watched them inhale plate after plate of food, especially Gabrielle. Lily expected the boys to eat more than her but she still never got over how much food that Gabrielle ate. It was an unreasonable amount considering her size but somehow she managed to keep her nice figure. Lily reasoned that she had grown up with boys and was influenced by them, but she still found it unbelievable.
Emmeline and Gabrielle were far from friends, unfortunately. They were Lily's closest friends and hated each other. Emmeline had been like all the other girls who decided they didn't like Gabrielle simply out of jealousy. Emmeline used to have a crush on Sirius. She had since stopped liking him, or so she claims, but kept her grudge against Gabrielle for being so close to Sirius and the rest of the Marauders.
_GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM_
Sirius sat sprawled across the couch in front of the fire in the common room rubbing his stomach. He currently had a stomach ache from inhaling so much food in such a small amount of time. It was true that the Hogwarts food was amazing but it appeared, he had missed it a little too much. The rest of the group hurried to get their own seats in the chairs by the fire. Emmeline and Remus each took one of the large arm chairs and Lily had no choice but to sit beside James on the 'love seat' because there was no place else left to sit.
Peter had taken off as soon as the feast was over to who knew where. They didn't ask questions. This left Gabrielle with no where to sit except on the couch which Sirius managed to stretch out so he covered the whole thing. Gabrielle grinned knowing that there was only one thing that she could do to make him move. She positioned herself so she sat right on top of his stomach. Because of his stomach ache, he groaned in pain and surrendered promising to sit up so she would have somewhere to sit once she got up. Emmeline rolled her eyes at this with irritation written all over her face. Because she was friends with Lily she felt like she could hang out with the Marauders but Gabrielle always seemed to be there to dominate their attention.
Gabrielle stood up and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Sirius to sit up. He took his time sitting up slowly and scooting forward slightly only to lay back down as soon as Gabrielle sat down in the small spot he left for her on one end of the couch. She rolled her eyes and wiggled, causing his head to shake back and forth but he didn't show any sign of moving. She just sighed and looked over to James and Lily who were arguing, playing with Sirius' hair that fanned out in her lap.
"You could have easily sat down beside Sirius on the couch and it would be better for both Gabrielle and me. I wouldn't have to sit by you and she wouldn't have a huge arrogant head in her lap!" Lily exclaimed crossing her arms over her chest as James looked over at her with a satisfied smile on his face.
"As much as you want to deny it you will be spending a lot of time with me this year. You're Head Girl and I'm Head Boy so you are obligated to at least go on one date with me, even if it's a study date. It just so happens that we have all the same classes this year, as well," James said. He had been waiting all day to drop that news on her. Unfortunately he chose the wrong time since she was already pretty angry with him.
Lily jumped up from her seat causing Remus to be pulled out of his thoughts and look towards James and Lily. Now all eyes were on them. "James Potter you are unbelievable! Some days I wish I had never met you!" she exclaimed angrily before stomping out of the Gryffindor Common Room. Under normal circumstances a better choice would have been the girl's dormitory since boys couldn't get up there but James and Sirius had proved that it was possible the previous year so that was no longer safe either. She really had no way to get away from him.
James winked to Sirius before running after Lily out of the portrait hole. From in the common room you could hear him shout, "Lily wait! Let's talk about this!" The three couldn't resist the laughter at the continual feuding of their two friends.
"So Sirius, how was your summer?" Emmeline asked leaning towards him with interest, trying to pretend that Gabrielle wasn't there. Though she claimed that she didn't like Sirius anymore, it was hardly a believable claim.
Sirius looked over at her and smiled. "I had a great summer. I was staying with the Potters so I spend the whole summer hanging out with James and Gabs, except for that excruciatingly long ten days that Gabby-pie left us for her stupid 'biological' brother. She doesn't need real brothers when she has us but overall my summer was fun. Tons of pranking and quidditch and, of course, swimming in the lake and creek. How was your summer, Em?" he replied grinning up at Gabrielle who grinned back at the memories. They had snuck out of their rooms countless nights to swim in the lake by the moonlight.
Emmeline feigned a smile to hide the anger that was building up inside of her to hear that he had spent all summer with Gabrielle. "Mine was fun too. I went to America to visit my mother's sister and her family. I had a really great time there," she replied and looked around uncomfortably. She fortunately spotted a short girl with cropped black hair and a bright round face walking towards the girl's staircase. "Hestia!" she called and hurried to catch up with Hestia Jones. Together they disappeared up to the seventh year girls' dormitory but not without a glare over the shoulder to Gabrielle who certainly wasn't looking forward to spending the night there.
James and Lily hadn't come back yet that night. Gabrielle, Sirius and Remus carried a mellow chatter about upcoming events and their plans for the last year of school. Sirius fell asleep around midnight in Gabrielle's lap after Remus had retired to bed. Gabrielle wiggled gently out from under him, placing a pillow under his head to replace her legs. When she went up to her room, she quickly undressed in the dark and crawled into bed, not wanting to disturb her roommates. She must have fallen asleep before Lily came back for bed.