Previously: "Oh, I almost forgot. I need to go talk to the headmaster first. I'll be back later though; it'll only take a few minutes. Where do you want to meet?" They all looked at me a little surprised at the mention of the word headmaster. "It's really no big deal really. Just final transfer stuff." I added putting my hands up in defence.

"How about at the quidditch field? We were going to play a few rounds," James chirped very happily.

"We could wait for you if you want," added Remus, looking a little concerned.

"No, you guys go ahead and have fun. I'll catch up."

With that I left toward the waiting figure of Professor McGonagall.

Against All Odds (A Marauder's Story) Chapter 4 The New Girl

James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus were up in their dormitory getting dressed. Despite their rather large dinner last night, they were still very hungry. All of them, however, were thinking about the same thing, or more rather the same someone . . . Samantha.

Peter had taken a liking to Sam after he had fallen last night and she didn't make fun of him like James and Sirius would have. Remus seemed to be thinking thoughtfully about this as well.

"So … what do you think about Sam?" James asked, breaking the heavy silence in the room.

"I thought you still had it in for Lily?" Sirius asked, shocked. He couldn't believe that James could love anyone but Lily. The thought of him liking Samantha was just...strange. He had already come to conclusion that when it comes to girls, James was broken. Or that he had some odd rejection fetish.

"Have you given up that quickly for Samantha?" Remus questioned in a small distant voice. Sirius though that he was paying way too much attention to his towel. He was another one that was slightly broken, but at least he had an excuse for being bad with girl.

"No. That's not what I meant at all." James said, a little frustrated.

"Then what did you mean?" Peter piped in, pulling off a sweater that he had changed his mind about, and exchanging it for a lighter one. Sirius rolled his eyes. Peter could wear the same shirt for a whole week if no one mentioned it. Sirius prayed that it was a sign that Peter wasn't a lost cause.

"Well, I just thought that since she's really cool about things and she actually likes us . . . and she's Lily's roommate, I could ask her some things. Like about Lily. Maybe about things she likes and what I could do, you know." James kept looking at the ground avoiding eye contact as he got dressed.

"Maybe, they seem to really like each other. But you would have to be careful about it. They did just meet yesterday." said Remus, as he started to dry his hair.

"Well, I'll see you down stairs. I'm going to wait for Lily." With that James left. Peter was hot on his heels. Sirius soon followed mumbling about needing to knock Peter and James out for waking up early.

Remus sighed, feeling a little better having some time to his own. He slowly got dressed feeling a bit tired as he looked outside toward the moon.

He wondered about Samantha. She was very cute but there were some things that were just a bit odd about her that he couldn't seem to grasp. His last transformation had taken its toll and he wasn't as quick to the punch … but there was something different. Something in the way she smelled, not that it was bad, in fact it was pleasant, but faint. Almost masked, but that didn't make any sense. Then the way she carried herself, he'd seen something like it before and the necklace that she constantly played with. Peter then rushed into the room looking a bit worried, and disturbed his chain of thought.

Down Stairs

As Peter and James met Sam downstairs everything seemed fine. James had already grown a liking toward her. She was nice, sweet, and didn't automatically judge him when he did something stupid.

Peter found her absolutely delightful. James and Sirius had always made fun of him. Remus rarely ever did but he never said anything to them either. Peter remembered last night when he had tripped and fell. James of course made fun of him for it. He expected for everyone to laugh at him. Sam, however, didn't she just gave a sweet smile and helped him up. She then stood up for Peter by making fun of James's hair and said that it looked like he got in a fight with a pair of scissors and lost. Peter couldn't help but like her. It was the first time that anyone had ever stood up for him against Sirius or James.

When Sirius came downstairs, Peter couldn't help but worry a bit. Sirius did have a track record for causing trouble. But to Peter's surprise Sirius did something that he had never done, he left without the gang and didn't say anything to them. That was just against his 'brotherhood code' which mandated that they stick together when not in hot pursuit after a girl that had been 'claimed'.

"Hey Sammie," said Sirius with a small yawn. "I'll take you to the hall if you want. I'm starving, I need food." He said as he acted like he hadn't had food for days, trying to be funny.

"Yeah, sounds good." Samantha said laughing a little. "I'll see guys later then." She then left with Sirius without a second look back.

Peter just simply looked worried. Sirius always waited for the rest of the guys. And to make things weirder he didn't say anything to Remus or James that he was going to leave without them. This was a completely new thing for Sirius to do. Once they went through the painting, Peter rushed to tell Remus what just happened.

James just stayed on the couch pretending to sleep. He wrinkled his forehead as Peter ran up the stairs. James assumed Peter was thinking the same thing... He wouldn't... Sam was too nice. Sirius wouldn't . . . would he?

Upstairs then back down again

"Anything wrong Peter?" asked Remus as he looked through his trunk for a shirt. Peter had just burst into the room with a worried look, but that was normal and likely to happen many more times throughout the year.

"It was sooo weird!" Peter's eyes were practically bugging out.

"What's weird?" Remus signed knowing that once Peter started acting dramatic there was use stopping him.

"Sirius just left with Sam downstairs to eat and he just acted like James and I weren't even there. You don't think he...well-" Peter began to struggle to find the right words, "She's just too nice. It won't be funny like it was last time." He rushed looking completely worried and turning slightly red from his little outburst.

Remus suddenly stopped what he was doing and hurriedly put on the rest of his clothes. They both rushed down the stairs. James was still on the couch staring at the ceiling thinking to silently to himself.

"Why didn't you follow him?" Remus scolded James as they reached the common room. "What if he does something like last time? Do you really want her to get hurt? It's not like she's a Slytherin and this one is well mannered."

"What happened?" said Lily making them all jump. James and Remus really didn't want to say anything, but it looked like they wouldn't have to. Once Peter started, there no stopping him.

"Sirius just went down stairs with Samantha by themselves." piped Peter excitedly, just waiting for disaster to happen at any moment.

Lily looked shocked but then covered her face. There were only two reasons Sirius would go anywhere without James. "If he dares pull a prank on her and she gets hurt because of him . . ." She just then looked up and scowled at them. "Let's just hurry and catch up with them."

At the dinner table

To their surprise they didn't encounter anything strange on the way. No dung bombs, no screaming or cursing. Not even a single burn mark anywhere to be seen. When they got to the dinner table they were even more surprised by what they saw.

They had just seen them talking and eating and getting along like they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time. The group sat at the table across from the pair. Remus cleared his throat to make himself noticed but they just kept on talking. Samantha and Sirius were in there own world now. This went on for about a half-hour with the rest of the gang glancing at each other. They wondered if they should butt in and ruin their 'moment'.

Remus, Lily, James, and Peter quickly felt completely left out. James then thought, maybe he does really like her...Then again knowing Sirius he's going to just add another notch on his belt or by the way he's acting a little worse, a notch on the bedpost. Or was that the same thing? Damn hormones. He still needed to ask her about Lily, so Sirius had better not screw this up for him. To all of their shock they finally broke their conversation and allowed them in.

"Oh hey guys." Samantha and Sirius both said in unison after Peter knocked over a glass of orange juice. They have been sitting there for about 30 minutes already.

"Remus, I don't think I asked, but what classes did you pick as extras?" He looked surprised that the conversation was being brought to him after talking to Sirius nonstop.

"Care of Magical Creatures, Runes, and Arithmancy." He said but felt unsure in being brought into the conversation. He had begun to feel left out since he was the one to make friends with her first.

"I have Divination instead of Arithmancy. But we got Runes and Care of Magical Creatures together. I think that's going to be my favorite."

"I think we all have that class together except for Lily and Peter." Remus said, as Peter looked thankful that he didn't have that class. Remus shuddered at the thought of having Peter in the class with them. "Divination, I think you'll be with James, Peter and Sirius. And I'm the only other one that chose Runes other than you"

"That sounds cool. At least I'll know some people in my classes." Samantha said, looking happy.

Remus then carried on the topic of books, which left everyone out except Lily. Since the train ride he had already began to enjoy conversations with her. The three of them talked for another half-hour until Sam noticed the time.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I need to go talk to the headmaster first. I'll be back later though; it'll only take a few minutes. Where do you want to meet?" They all looked at Sam a little surprised at her sudden outburst that made her voice an octave higher. "It's really no big deal really. Just final transfer stuff." She added bringing her voice back to normal.

"How about the quidditch field? We were going to play a few rounds." James remarked happily at the mere thought of flying through the morning sky on his broomstick.

"We could wait for you if you want." Said Remus a little concerned.

"No, you guys go ahead and have fun. I'll catch up." With that she left head toward the headmaster's office with Professor McGonagall.

All the boys then went out to the open field. And to James's delight Lily went along with Emma who latched herself to Sirius' arm, pouting her lips trying to look attractive.

Remus hoped for the best that Samantha's encounter with Sirius was innocent and that he hadn't chosen Samantha as his next victim, whether it be romantic or another one of his pranks.

NEXT TIME:

Ch5
Samantha has a meeting with Dumbledore

Ch6

Some people from Samantha's past show up