A/N: Okay here's the third chapter! Just to warn y'all some of my extra classes have just begun, and it may take me a tad longer to update. The good thing is though once I have a majority of the class work done I'm free to type here so yeah! Anyway on with the story!
Disclaimer: …Again? REALLY? Let me explain this again, me no own HP. Me DO own CP!
Catie didn't talk to the boys for the rest of the evening, however once she, Lily and Alice were in their dorm they gathered on Lily's bed to talk. Catie explained everything that had happened with Justin to them; Alice had to cover her mouth more than once to keep from squealing giddily.
"I think he fancies you!" Lily said excitedly in a hushed tone. Catie gasped and lowered her voice,
"Which one!" she demanded. Lily sighed dramatically,
"Who do you think? Justin of course!" whispered Lily smiling. Catie went deep red,
"You think so?" Catie asked timidly.
"Yes!" Alice and Lily whispered at the same time. Catie smiled and giggled girlishly into her pillow she had brought with her. After a few moments of giggling Catie remembered something,
"Lily, I won't be able to go with you to Slug's club. I'll have Quidditch practice!" she said excitedly. Lily laughed,
"Well if you get Justin wrapped your finger you won't ever have to step foot in his club again!" said Lily still giggling slightly.
The next morning the girls were dressed and ready to head down to breakfast quickly. They chatted about their discussion the previous night for a while until McGonagall showed up with their timetables,
"Ah, Miss Potter…I see you are not taking Divination this term, wise decision. Good luck with Ancient Runes dear." McGonagall said handing Catie her timetable.
"Same to you Miss Evans…Now Miss Davis-." McGonagall sighed, "Well dear, according to Filius you need to improve on your charms to pass this term. If you don't you'll have to retake the exam." the professor warned before walking further down the table. Alice groaned as McGonagall walked away and propped herself up on her elbow,
"I'm hopeless…" Catie glanced over her schedule several times and sighed,
"Well Lily we have Ancient Runes in five minutes, we best get going. See you Alice; keep the boys in line for me!" Catie said standing and waving, Lily following suit. As Catie and Lily reached the boys Remus stood and joined them to Ancient Runes. Lily didn't say much on their way to the classroom, Remus and Catie however shared a deep conversation about the origins of Ancient Runes. The threesome sat together during the lesson, and once it was over all of them was conversing on the subject. Lily found she liked Remus' company, and looked forward to attending other classes with him.
"-Everyone please be seated! I am your new defense against the dark arts professor, my name is Richard Batton. Many of you may know I am replacing your previous teacher Ian Choff, no worries I hear he's healing well at St. Mungos... Anyway, now today we will be talking about an intriguing little creature named a Boggart. Now does anyone know what a Boggart is?" he asked. Lily's hand shot up in the air and James smiled dreamily at her,
"She's brilliant…" he said airily. He was so lost in his daydream he missed what she had said, those emerald green eyes and fiery red hair were just so beautiful. Sirius looked at James disapprovingly, then realize one of his many nasty bruises, most of which hadn't healed yet, on his wrist was visible. Sirius quickly looked around nervously as he tugged the sleeve down wincing at the pain as he put pressure on it. Remus saw him do this from behind and had trouble paying attention to the new teacher. His mind was racing with possible explanations for such a bruise. In the end Remus decided he would ask Catie about it later that night after the others went to bed. After three more classes they had a time span of an hour before dinner. The girls disappeared within the walls of the library while the boys stayed up upstairs in the tower.
Down in the library, they met up with Severus even after all of Alice's begging to stand him up. Currently they all sat on the floor in a secluded corner with stacks of books; Alice sat with her legs and arms crossed while she and Severus had a glare down. Lily did her best to ignore them and focus on her book she was reading for Transfiguration, it worked as long as no snide comments passed between the two. Catie leaned up against the wall with parchment, ink, a quill, and books surrounding a small area around her. Severus was to Catie's left, Lily sat on Severus' left and Alice was on Lily's free side. Catie had stealthily slid out her wand just in case things got too heated between Alice and Severus. Every other page or so in the book Catie was reading she would glance up at the two of them before returning to her book, Lily and Catie had come to a conclusion through letters over the summer that something would eventually have to be done about them, and this was the best thing they could come up with: watching their every move.
"You know you two if you'd spend less time glaring at each other and more time studying you would both be geniuses?" Lily commented dryly, staring down at her book. Catie forced back a smile and flipped the page while jotting down a few notes. Alice slammed her book shut with a thud,
"I can't study; my mind can't seem to quit thinking about-…Oh blimey what have I done?" Alice said throwing her face into her palms. At the words '-can't seem to quit thinking about-' Lily and Catie's heads had shot up from their books to look at a mortified Alice.
"Thinking about whom?" Catie began,
"-Or what?" Lily finished. Alice's face suddenly appeared through her thick black hair,
"Uh…no one! Dang it I just gave myself away again…" muttered Alice as her face disappeared again into her hands. Catie and Lily exchanged giddy looks,
"Alice, do you perhaps by chance like a certain someone?" Catie asked suspiciously, but smiling nonetheless. Severus rolled his eyes,
"Oh goodness no! I'm out of here." he said standing and quickly departing them.
After an unsuccessful afternoon of interrogating Alice, Lily went on up to their dormitory while Catie, Alice and the boys sat in the common room attacking their homework. Well Catie wasn't really getting anything done; Peter was constantly in the need of her help.
"No Peter…Listen, the chamber of secrets opened thirty-one years ago, now of what blood status was the girl that died?" Catie quizzed the nervous Peter. Peter wrung his hands,
"Half-blood?" he squeaked. Catie smacked her forehead and glanced hopefully up at Remus,
"Maybe Remus can help you better than I…" she said smirking. Remus groaned and snapped his book shut,
"Why is it only me that can get through to Peter?" he muttered under his breath. Catie heard him as she crawled back to her original seat and laughed,
"You are the only one with the patience to do so…I however have none." Catie said still smirking. Remus rolled his eyes playfully and Catie giggled as she returned to her paper she had been working on for Sprout before she had been interrupted by Peter. It was so good to be all back together at Hogwarts again, even if Sirius and Remus had come to stay the tail end of the summer.
"What are you smiling at?" James asked with an amused expression. Catie smiled,
"It's good to be home is all." Catie said dreamily as she dipped her quill into her ink bottle. Sirius scoffed,
"Agreed…" he agreed. Alice smiled genuinely at Sirius,
"Seconded." Catie smirked she thought she knew now who Alice's mysterious crush was. Hours later after Peter, Alice, and Sirius had gone up to bed Catie yawned and she glanced up at the clock,
"Wow is it midnight all ready? I'm off to bed you lot. See you tomorrow." Catie said bidding her good nights before going upstairs into her girls' dorm. Cassidy and May were back, Alice still had a bed however. Catie yawned and noticed Lily was still awake whereas Alice was out cold.
"What are you still doing up?" Catie asked surprised that Lily was still awake. Lily shrugged,
"I'm having too much fun with the Ancient Runes homework…Deciphering is just so fun! It's like the cross word puzzles my dad does in the paper." she explained. Catie sighed and began to change,
"I'm going to bed…See you in the morning."
Homework increased over the rest of the week despite the constant work they put into it. On Thursday evening Catie was studying with the boys again while Alice was up with Lily in the dormitory.
"I really can't wait until after Quidditch practice, so we can set a really good one on Snivellus and his cronies…" James said smirking. Catie rolled her eyes,
"Small pranks aren't good enough anymore James?" she asked. James and Sirius shook their heads,
"Oh no Cate, not since Snivellus lit Sirius' pants on fire during last year's match." James said scowling at no one in particular. Sirius groaned and Catie looked up,
"What is-?" she didn't have to finish her sentence because just then Justin came through the portrait hole.
"Hey Catie, I was wondering if we could go over a few new chaser techniques I've discovered before tomorrow's practice." he asked giving her a charming smile. Catie smiled,
"Yeah sure…Just let me put this away." she said beginning to stuff her things away. Remus bore a hole through Justin's back because he was glaring so hard at him; he didn't know why he was so upset Justin was practically asking her on a study date. Catie was just a sister to him…right? Catie was smiling so big she thought her face would freeze that way.
"Shall we?" Justin asked holding out an arm towards her. Catie giggled girlishly and took it blushing slightly. Justin led her out of the portrait hole and Remus accidentally snapped his quill in half,
"Blimey…Didn't mean to do that." he muttered. James however stood with his wand out,
"If I hear word that he snogged my little sister he won't live to see Quidditch practice!" he hissed. Sirius clapped,
"Bravo good chap! I will join you on that death sentence…if need be." he said smirking. Remus glanced up at them while he retrieved another quill,
"Get in line…And remember no detention this Friday." Remus warned.
"We should do this again." Justin said smiling. Catie nodded,
"Yes we should. Well I um need to go up to bed…g'night Justin." said Catie nervously smiling. Justin waved at her as Catie began walking up the stairs. Catie waved back and accidentally went into the Marauders' dorm; Remus and James were the only ones still awake.
"Oops, I must have gone the wrong way. Sorry." Catie whispered turning around. Remus and James stopped her and pushed her onto James' bed pulling the curtains around.
"What are you doing?" Catie hissed at them. James sat on one side of Catie and Remus sat on the other,
"Did Connors snog you?" James asked firmly with fire in his eyes. Catie wanted to laugh but didn't she was going to toy with James and Remus for a bit. She sighed dreamily,
"Perhaps…" James and Remus exchanged horrified looks, Catie went on,
"It started with just a peck on the cheek…then he kissed me very gently, and then the next thing I knew I was pressed up against the library wall and his hands were on my waist…" Catie described watching Remus and James' faces go scarlet. Catie fell backwards laughing,
"I'm just kidding you, we did no such thing." she laughed. Remus and James glared at her then smirked before beginning to tickle Catie, she shrieked and woke Sirius and Peter who ran to them and pulled aside the curtains only to find them all laying stomach up on James' bed. Sirius muttered to himself as he walked back to bed and Peter balked at them,
"What are you three doing?" he demanded childishly. Their laughter subsided, and they all stared at Peter as if he had gone barmy.
The next morning before breakfast Remus pulled Catie aside,
"Catie, have you noticed Sirius' strange behavior?" Catie scoffed,
"You mean his belching at every meal? Yeah I've noticed." Remus rolled his eyes,
"No not that…The whole wincing and flinching he does a lot." he said. Catie sighed,
"Oh that…Yes that I've noticed, but I just assumed he was messing around." she explained beginning to walk alongside Remus down the marble moving staircase. Remus shook his head,
"No I don't think so. He really looked like he was in pain."
"Should we ask James about it?" Catie asked walking off the last staircase into the corridor. Remus nodded and followed her,
"Yes I think we should."
A/N: And that concludes chapter three! Next chapter will be Quidditch tryouts and some prank action I believe…So, my poll is tied currently would you readers please go un-tie the poll? Please and thank you! Reviews are also welcomed with open arms. ;)