Disclaimer: I do not make any monies from the writing of this story. I do not own any piece of the HP fandom.

Author's Note: Hey gang! I just felt like putting up another chapter for you all to enjoy!

FaithfulHPReader- Thank you for reviewing! I love looking forward to reading your notes.

Enjoy the chapter!

-SI

Chapter 4. Meet the friends

October 30th, 1976

Five weeks had passed since my first painting lesson. I now find myself looking for Mita wherever I am. I figure that we had to have at least a few classes together. Transfiguration, Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts, and Ancient runes. I guess I really wasn't that observant. I must have been so wrapped up in my own little world before to even notice the things around me. But just a few days with Mita had begun to change my point of view of things.

I decided that I would eat lunch with my older friends today. They were starting to get a bit worried about me. Remus is still giving me weird looks.

So after Potions I walked up to the Great Hall with them and we sat down in our regular spot. Lunch appeared and we began to dig in. Once our plates were full the questions began.

"So where ya been Padfoot?" James inquired. I jumped.

"Uhhhh..."

I had just seen Mita walk in and sit down at the end of the table with her friends. They were strange, yet they were cool at the same time. Sahara and Tony were now dating and Mita gave a look of disgusted look. She must have said something to the kissing couple, because they laughed and waved her away. Some one was waving a hand in front of my face.

"Sirius? You spaced on us. So, you done thinking so you can answer our question?" Remus looked a bit worried because I normally wasn't the one to space, he was. I was frantically planning in my mind how I was going to explain my friendship with Mita, when I was saved from answering by the object of my thoughts.

"Do you guys mind if I sit here? My friends have decided to become unbearably mushy in public." Mita said gesturing with her hands towards her friends.

"Not a bit." I replied quickly. She smiled and sat down next to me. I was becoming nervous about what I was going to tell my friends later about her when she started up a discussion with James about quidditch strategies that she had been thinking about after watching the games last year. This left me to be under the gaze of Remus.

He began mouthing questions at me. I mouthed back that she was a friend that I had met a few weeks ago. He shrugged and gave me a look that we would be talking later.

I sighed and looked back to James. He smiled at me and gave me a look like he knew something that I didn't. That look always frustrated me. I took a look at Mita and saw she was looking back at me. I smiled and continued eating my lunch with the tension between my friends and me quickly disappearing.

I don't know why it really matters to me what my friends think of any other friends that I have. I guess I depend on them to tell me if I'm doing something right or if I'm slipping into the roll my parents raised me to play. That's the problem with being raised by Slytherins: they only want you for what you can give to them.

I need to go to class now. Later.

8pm (same day)

James just stood up in the middle of the common room and said: "Team. Bed. We've got a big game tomorrow." While the boys all raced up the steps to get to our bathroom first I watched Mita lazily stretch and move towards the steps clutching her sketchpad in her hand. I caught a glimpse of it before she turned the corner of the stairs. It was a sketch of something. Or someone. There were also some words on it, but I was too far away to make them out.

I continued to climb the stairs with my curiosity poked. I wonder what that picture was of. I sighed knowing Remus and James were sitting upstairs waiting for me to get there so they could interrogate me about Mita. I pushed the intriguing picture to the back of my mind and prepared some answers for my friends.

"Sooo… care to explain just how you happened to become friends with Mita?" Remus asked sounding slightly annoyed.

"Why? Does it bother you that I have other friends than you guys?" I retorted. It had been a long day and I really didn't feel like fighting with anyone tonight.

"Well no, but…never mind." He said with a small smile. I relaxed a bit. I wasn't about to get my head bitten off.

"It's just a little strange that you practically disappear for long periods of time, and you come back with a new person." James said practically, filling in the words that Remus failed to create. I gave him a look that said 'A new person? She's in the same bloody house as us! He replied with a raised eyebrow and, "Well, okay… maybe not a new person, but someone that you would have never given a second glance before."

"Well then," Peter interjected, "why don't we all just accept the fact that we may have to empty a few spots at our end of the table." I grinned widely at this and went over and ruffled his hair in a gesture of thanks. Guys can't really hug each other. It's just not done. "Now can we please get to bed?" Pete whined, "I'm really tired." We all looked at each other and raced for the bathroom. There was a playful tussle for the sink as we prepared for bed.

We soon had said our goodnights and I was once again lost in my thoughts of Mita. As I thought of her I realized I still hadn't figured out what that picture was. 'Oh well' I thought with a yawn 'I'll just ask her about it in the morning'. And with that thought I drifted off to a, thankfully, dreamless sleep.

Penned in the margins:

Little did I know was that Mita was lying in bed looking at that very picture, thinking about the person that it was of. She told me this later as we read through this journal together.

November 1st, 1976

It seemed as though I had just closed my eyes when a disgustingly cheerful James, who had opened all of the curtains to let the sunshine stream in, was shaking me awake. James had obviously awakened early so he could be the one to rouse his team.

"Go away Prongs!" I attempted to shout, my speech slurred with sleep. I covered my head with one of my fluffy pillows.

"No way Padfoot. The rest of the team is already at breakfast and I'm pretty sure that I saw Mita up and about already. Speaking of which Lily looked so confused when I asked her politely if she would care for a game of chess. She turned me down but her face was priceless."

He looked back to my bed to notice that it was completely empty. During his rant I had seen he was distracted and slipped away, had speedily gotten dressed and was brushing my hair into a horsetail when he realized he was talking to thin air. I saw him freeze and then turn slowly around.

"How did you do that?" he asked, perplexed.

"What?" I feigned innocence, "I just got out of bed to get dressed. Nothing new there." As I was walking out the door I added, "you might want to wipe that expression off your face, though Lily might get a kick out of you looking stupidly confused."

Mita wandered over to the Slytherin table to talk to her brother.

"Oh hello Mita. Happy Birthday." He mentioned not looking up from his post.

"Thanks. I was going to ask you, have you heard from father recently?"

"Yes actually… he sends his birthday wishes to you and tells me that your present will be arriving later today." The blond haired by replied. Beval was her older brother and he was a Slytherin through and through.

"Why couldn't he have sent me a letter?" She asked sounding angry.

"Because, he doesn't care about you that much." He said, making the people around him chortle.

"I hope you lose today because I have the feeling that our seeker will snatch the victory from right. Under. Your. Nose." Swiping the toast from his hands without him noticing. He laughed at this, but soon stopped when he noticed his breakfast was sitting in her hand. She took a huge bit from it and gave it back saying:

"Yuck. No wonder you guys look like pigs. This stuff is slop." A few other Gryffindors had meandered over to see if she needed any help with insulting them, but instead walked away laughing. Remus moved towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Did I hear him say it was your birthday?"

"Yup! I'm 16 today." She smiled. Sahara and Tony came over to her and handed her some presents and insisted that she open them right away. "Okay! Okay!" She replied laughing as she opened Sahara's gift she slowly looked over her shoulder and saw the Marauders waiting for her to open her presents. I chuckled when she saw that I had set my head on her shoulder.

"Well, hurry up," I said, "My eggs are getting cold." She laughed and unwrapped a camera and film. Sahara then told her that this camera was only to be used to record the funniest moments of her last two years at Hogwarts and therefore only to be used in the name of 'moments that you want no one to ever know about'.

Mita only laughed and looked towards Tony. He handed her a small package. She unwrapped it and all it was a sculptor's chisel. Mita seemed confused and cocked her head to look at her tall friend inquisitively. He explained that the rest of her present was still in the post seeing as it couldn't be delivered with owls. She gave him an 'It better not be anything dangerous' look. He leaned down and whispered something into her ear. Her jaw dropped and she gave him a wide-eyed grin. She leapt up and gave him a huge hug.

"Well, what is the other part of the present?" I asked after she had settled down again.

"Tony is having a block of white marble sent to my home for me to do my masterpiece." She explained excitedly.

"Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday Mita." James and I stated simultaneously. She grinned and thanked us.

"You might want to eat something. There's some eggs and bacon here…" I mentioned, but I stopped short when I noticed that she was making a disgusted face. "What?!" I asked, confused at the face she was making.

She shuddered and replied, "I can't STAND the taste, sight, or smell of cooked eggs. They make me queasy. And anyway, I never eat before a game." When I cocked my head to the side much like a dog does when it is still confused about something, she continued with an exasperated sigh. "It gives me an upset stomach with all the excitement in the air."

"Then watch us eat, or go get good seats in the stands." James said using his captain's voice. She stood, saluted smartly, turned on her heal and walked out the doors to the Quidditch Pitch.

"What was that look for?" I asked after James gave a funny glance. And you know what the bastard did? He just smirked and continued his conversation with Peter about the upcoming match. Peter was decked out in his Gryffindor attire. I swear that boy is our number one fan.

As I looked back to my breakfast I noticed that I had lost my appetite. I sighed and pushed my plate away, earning a worried look from Remus. I mentioned that I needed to get my new quidditch gloves from my trunk as I got up from the table. As Moony's face betrayed that he was still worried about me, all I did was smile and said that I had lost my appetite from nerves of the match. He didn't look very convinced, but he allowed me to leave the table without incident.

In truth, I did go to our dorms to collect my gloves, but then I just meandered around the school until I had to be at our locker rooms to prepare for the game. I was looking for Mita to see if I could talk to her before the game. No such luck. I met up with James and Remus outside of the locker rooms and we smiled, opened the door and entered the room.

Penned in the margins:

I must have had to stop writing to get ready for the game. I believe I recall James glaring at me for being the last one in uniform. The entries continue with the events after the game.

(A/N: review please!)