Chapter 4 – Meeting The Marauders
Lexiopeia POV
"Miss Lynx." Professor McGonagall called as she walked over. "Here is your timetable for the year. I do hope you enjoy Hogwarts."
"Thank you, Professor." I smiled, and she handed me my timetable, along with Lily, Alice, and Marlene's.
I looked down at my Tuesday classes. "I have Potions first. What about you guys?"
"Transfiguration," Marlene responded.
"Transfiguration." Alice said.
"Ancient Runes," Lily concluded.
"Right. Well, I guess I'm on my own." I said, finishing up my toast.
"You'll be fine," Lily assured.
I nodded and stood up. "Wait, where's the Potions classroom?"
"In the dungeons." Lily answered.
"Right." I nodded, and began to walk out of the Great Hall. "Wait." I stopped and walked a few steps backwards. "Where are the dungeons?"
Lily chuckled. "Alright, did you see where the Slytherin's were walking to last night?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember where that is?"
"Yes."
"Well, the dungeons are just one flight of stairs down from there, and two corridors to the right." she explained.
"Right." I nodded again. "One flight of stairs down from where I saw them, and two corridors to the right," I repeated.
"Yes." Lily smiled. "Have fun!" she called after me.
"I'll try," I yelled from the doors.
Lily laughed, and I walked out of the Great Hall and down to the dungeons.
I whipped open the door of the Potions classroom, and slumped down on an empty desk in the middle row. There were already quite a few people seated and waiting for the Professor to walk in.
I rested my head on the desk and closed my eyes. I hated waking up early in the morning, and I had to do it five days a week! Personally, I think breakfast should start at eight in the morning, instead of seven, and class should start at nine, instead of eight. It was such a pain waking up at six-thirty in the morning. If I wasn't in a dorm with Lily, I'd be waking up at seven fifteen and head down to breakfast at 7:30. But no, I share a dorm with Lily, and Lily loves to be on time when it comes to her education. In fact, she loves to be on time to everything.
What seemed like two minutes later, someone poked me on the arm.
My eyes slowly opened. "Hm?"
"So you aren't dead!" the boy next to me exclaimed dramatically.
I chuckled. "No, I'm not. I'm just extremelytired."
"You and me both," the boy sighed.
He had black hair that reached just below his chin, and stormy grey eyes.
I lifted my head from my arms and rubbed the sleep away from my eyes.
"I'm Lexi Lynx." I greeted, yawning right after.
The boy chuckled. "Sirius Black."
"Sirius." I inquired. "Huh. That's a name I haven't heard before."
"Not many people have. I'm named after a star." he responded.
"Heyyy! Same here." I grinned.
"Lexi's a name of a star?" he asked incredulously.
"Well... I'm partly named after a star. Actually, I think it's a constellation. I don't know. I'm not very good with astronomy. But yeah, I'm partly name after one of them."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Partly?"
"Uhhh, well, Lexi is my nickname, I guess you could call it. Though, I always go by that name." I said.
"Alexis? Is that your full name?" he asked.
"No actually, it's not."
"Then what's Lexi short for?" Sirius said, clearly confused.
"Lexiopeia." I answered. "My full name is Lexiopeia."
"Lexiopeia." he repeated. "I like it. It's unique."
"I guess. But I don't really like being called that. I prefer Lexi. I don't tell people that Lexiopia is my name. You're actually the only one here who knows."
"I am?"
"Yes. So you better not say a word." I said seriously.
"You have my word." he grinned.
I smiled. "Thank you."
"Sooooo... You said you were partly name after a star or constellation?"
"Yeah. It's really stupid but my mum liked the name Alexis and my dad liked the star or constellation that's named-"
"Cassiopeia." Sirius finished.
I looked at him, astonished. "How do you-"
"How do I know?" he interrupted.
I nodded.
Sirius laughed. "I know basically everything about all the stars and constellations. My whole family is named after one of them."
"That's so cool! Anyone named Cassiopeia?"
"No, none named that - at least I don't think... I never really made an effort to learn my family's history and stuff." he shrugged.
I looked at him questioningly. "What do yo-"
"Padfoot!" a voice yelled.
I turned around and saw James running over to us.
"I see you two have already met." James grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.
Sirius whacked him over the back of his head. "Knock it off, Prongs."
"Okay! Okay!" James held his hands up in surrender. "No need to hit me." he said, now rubbing the back of his head.
"Padfoot and Prongs." I said slowly. "Nicknames of yours?"
Sirius and James grinned. "Yep." they said in unison.
"And this is our buddy, Moony," James said, pulling a boy with shaggy brown hair and a few scars marking his face, over to us. "Moony," Sirius said. "This is Lexi Lynx."
I smiled.
"Lexi, this is Moony - also known as Remus Lupin." James introduced. "Oh! And this is Wormtail." he gestured towards a short, plump boy. "Also known as Peter Pettigrew." he added. "And we're the Marauders."
I raised an eyebrow. "The what?"
"The Marauders," James repeated.
"Group name? Or something?" I asked.
They all nodded.
"Interesting."
Peter nodded extremely fast; I'm actually surprised he didn't hurt his neck.
To be honest, Peter kinda really creeped me out, but I smiled at him anyway. "I'm Lexi Lynx."
He just nodded and scurried off to a seat near the back corner. Remus smiled kindly at me and I grinned back.
"Good morning, everyone," a cheerful voice boomed from the front of the classroom. "Could you all take a seat." he said, eyeing Remus and James.
The two boys quickly sat at the desk behind me and Sirius'.
The Professor kind of resembled a walrus. He had quite a belly and his chin, or should I say; chins, took up most of his neck, and he had little amount of hair sitting atop his head.
"Now, I do believe we have a new student," the Professor said, looking towards me. "What's your name?"
"Lexi Lynx." I answered.
"Well, Miss Lynx, I'm Professor Slughorn," he said, "and I will be your Potions teacher."
"No kidding," I muttered, but obviously not quite enough because Sirius chuckled.
"Now today, as it is the first day of the school year, we will be making a potion. This one is fun and easy to make, so I expect to see it brewed perfectly. So, please open your textbooks to page one hundred and eighty-five. And begin to make the Draught of Peace. The person you're sitting next to will be your partner for the rest of the year, and these will be your seats."
I shrugged and smiled. I didn't mind Sirius at all.
We began making our potion, and through lots of laughter and joking around, we finally finished the potion.
Sirius and I poured the potion into a flask and we handed it to Professor Slughorn to evaluate it. He looked carefully at the flask. His eyes squinted as he inspected it, as if checking that there were no hidden mistakes in it.
When he finally finished evaluating it, he had a look of pure shock on his face. "Mr Black," he said, "you did make this potion as well? Or was it all Ms Lynx?"
"I did, in fact, make the potion with Lexi." Sirius replied.
Slughorn turned to me. "Is this true?"
"Yes. Sirius and I both made the potion. We did as much work as each other." I answered, and Sirius grinned. "But I don't see why you need my confirmation on this."
"Very well," he said, ignoring my last comment. "You both brewed the potion perfectly."
Sirius and I walked back to our desk to pack up. "Why did he ask if you made it as well?"
Sirius chuckled. "Ah, that. Well, let's just say that I'm usually the one to... blow upmy potions."
"Really?"
He nodded. "Yep."
My face broke out in a huge grin. "Next bludge potion, let's blow ours up."
Sirius looked shocked, but then he grinned as well. "Didn't pick you as one to make trouble. I thought you were a goody-two-shoes."
"Ewww, I am most certainly nota goody-two-shoes. At my old school, back in North Carolina, I was known for pranking and making trouble. Nearly got expelled for it, but no one ever had enough proof that it was me." I said, like it was the most casual thing in the world. "So, what do you say; blow up the next bludge potion we get assigned?"
Sirius held out his hand. "I'm in."
"Great." I grinned, and we shook on it.
The rest of classes flew by, and I was so happy by the time I flopped onto the couch in the Gryffindor common room.
