Still not J.K. Rowling, still don't own any rights to Harry Potter.

September

Moira walked down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, just as it began to move. She hoped Marlene wasn't in the last cart of the train because she always felt so awkward and lost when she couldn't find anyone she knew to sit with. Walking through cart after cart and compartment after compartment of laughing students with their friends staring out the doors and silently judging her always stressed her out. Okay, she knew they weren't judging her, they probably couldn't care less about her considering she wasn't exactly known around the school, but she still felt like people were watching her as she aimlessly wandered down the corridor. Nearly halfway down the train, and halfway to giving up and running back to Rodger's compartment to beg him to pity her and let her sit with him, she heard a deliberate knocking on the compartment door she had just passed. She turned around to see Sirius Black sticking his head out the door, his long black hair obscuring his face.

"Lost?" Below the fringe of hair was a broad grin. He flicked his head to get the hair out of his eyes and fix Moira with a cheeky stare to accompany his grin.

"Just looking for Marlene," Moira mumbled, looking out at the passing forrest through the windows. She really was not used to positive attention from guys like Sirius, she had to constantly remind herself that as much as Sirius and his friends liked to joke around they never took advantage of the girls of Hogwarts.

"Is that Moira McKinnon?" she heard James call from inside the compartment. "Hey tell her to come in! We never got to talk about the match!" The fact that James and Sirius both wanted to spend time with her actually surprised her a little. She had friends, but she never felt that she interested any of them much.

"Won't you join us?" Sirius said in a voice that was a bit sensual. All Moira could think was 'These guys are too cool for me,' she never considered that in the boys' eyes her racing career made her the coolest one there. Sirius stepped aside and Moira wordlessly walked inside the compartment.

"Not much to talk about," Moira said in response to what James had said. It had, in fact, been the shortest match of Quidditch World Cup History. James and Sirius laughed and the three of them went off on a raging tangent on how disappointing it was.

"We waited four years for that?" Sirius growled.

"There was no sportsmanship! It was all on the Seeker, the least he could've done was let the others play a bit," James responded huffily.

"I'm a Seeker and even I think that was unfair!" replied Moira. They continued discussing past World Cup matches and some highlights from the previous season. Quidditch was always the easiest thing for Moira to talk about with guys. She had been raised into it; she knew more about Quidditch than racing, even though that was her sport of choice. She felt it had hindered her in the past with guys, though, because instead of reveling in the fact that she had a common interest with them, they just saw her as 'one of the guys.' She didn't really mind being one of the guys with James and Sirius, yet she kept catching Sirius staring intently at her and she found herself directing her part of the conversation at James because she didn't quite know what to make of Sirius's gaze. She also felt significantly more comfortable with James, he reminded her of Rodger in many ways.

The conversation had switched into matters of classes, and what everyone planned to do outside of Hogwarts seeing as they only had two more years ahead of them. Moira was just about to tell the boys how she felt about the whole education system when the door to their compartment slid open. In sidled Peter Pettigrew, significantly tanner and possibly a bit thinner than the last time Moira had seen him. His wiry blond hair sat flatly on top of his head, and despite the strange contrast against it, Moira felt that the tan suited him well. In fact in that moment Moira even considered Peter somewhat attractive on his own. Certainly, compared to James and Sirius, his small eyes and pointed face made him look a bit mousy, but he really wasn't all that bad looking, just a bit heavy set. He also wasn't flooded with a booming personality or outstanding intellegence like the other two and Moira wondered if he liked hanging in the background, or if he felt shadowed like she did by Roger sometimes.

"Pete, do you know Moira McKinnon?" James said, gesturing towards Moira.

"Yeah?" he said slowly, eyeing her suspiciously, wondering which of his friends was trying to woo her. Perhaps both? "We've had some classes together." Moira nodded in response, offering up a friendly smile. Peter dropped his bag and relaxed into the space between James and the window and closed his eyes.

"Gees Wormtail, was the Prefects meeting that draining? You're not even a real prefect, you're just Moony's understudy," Sirius said throwing a chocolate frog box at his friend, hoping to gain a reaction. Moira noted the strange nicknames, unique to each of the boys, that Sirius used. She wondered what it could possibly mean.

"Gideon's been a right prick from the start," Peter sighed without opening his eyes. "He's kept Moony to talk to him about missing his duties." Before anyone could respond, the compartment door slid open once more. Moira turned to see Remus Lupin, the one she had been waiting for. She felt her heart murmur with excitement as she looked up at him. He looked more tired and skinny as ever, but happy. He shook the hair at the back of his head with his hand in a quick motion that reminded Moira of Marlene's dog. It was a cute habit she had always liked about him.

"Remus, you know-" Sirius started, but Remus was faster.

"Moira!" he dropped his bags and opened his arms to her as she stood to hug him tightly. Sirius and James exchanged a look of slight confusion. "What are you doing with these gits?" Remus grinned.

"You guys know each other?" asked Sirius suddenly.

"Slug Club," Remus and Moira said in unison. They belonged to the rather auspicious group that was gathered by the Potions professor, Professor Slughorn. Not exactly either of their cup of tea, but they had parties every month and were given excellent networking opportunities. Slughorn only chose students who showed tremendous potential, probably to return favors to him in the future, which is why James, Sirius, and Peter had all been left out.

Moira suddenly felt awkward and uncomfortable. Though she was glad that Remus had finally arrived, she cursed the fact that he made her so self conscious when she had been having such a nice chat with James and Sirius. He sat next to her, close enough that if she turned too far she'd probably bump her leg into his and she had to be sure not to do that. The hug was unexpected enough, she didn't want to push her luck. Remus, unlike James, Sirius, and even Peter never really spent as much time with girls. It was like he was afraid of them, though he seemed to be afraid of a lot of things. Sometimes in class him and Moira would be laughing about something, having a great time and suddenly he would snap to attention and mumble about how they needed to pay attention and stop fooling around. That trait must have been annoying to James and Sirius who always seemed to be fooling around. Remus inquired as to why Moira was in their compartment and Sirius got oddly defensive about the whole thing. This caught Peter's attention and suddenly the whole cabin was active in the conversation. Once it started to get dark outside, Moira excused herself and went to find Marlene so she could change into her robes. She stepped out of the compartment, but stopped just outside the line of sight from the door when the boys' conversation floated out into the corridor.

"What the hell was that Padfoot?" Remus said angrily.

"What?" Sirius huffed in response.

"I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition when I walked in," Remus continued.

"The what?" James asked.

"Muggle reference," Peter supplied flatly. At this time Moira had herself as close to their door as she'd allow herself, listening intently. She didn't see Marlene coming down the corridor.

"Merlin, where've you been?" Moira jumped at the sound of Marlene's voice. She put her finger to her lips and pulled Marlene closer then pointed in the direction of the compartment she had just left.

"No, 'Hey Moony! How was your summer, how's your mum?' No, you jump down my throat for asking what Moira was doing here, considering I've never seen any of you talk to her before," Remus continued, his voice raising slightly.

"Is that-" Marlene whispered and Moira nodded, trying to listen.

"How is your mum?" James asked.

"She's fine," said Remus curtly.

"And your furry little problem?" To this there was no response. Moira and Marlene looked to each other for answers but both shrugged. "It's soon isn't it?" James said quietly. Moira wasn't sure she had heard it right. All she knew was that they weren't arguing over her anymore.

"We should go," Moira whispered. Marlene simply nodded and led the way back to her compartment where Lily Evans and Alice Fortescue waited, fully dressed in their Gryffindor robes. The usual greetings were exchanged and with a few meaningful expressions Marlene and Moira made it clear to each other that what had happened earlier would be discussed, just not with Lily and Alice around.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

Please let me know what you think. Opinions and advice are greatly appreciated.

mayzie