Chapter Three
The hustle and bustle of Platform 9 ¾ always sends a shiver of warmth through my heart. Seeing all of the loving parents hug their children goodbye. Mothers fretting. Fathers attempting to calm the fretting mothers. It is all so nice.
Although, some families do not add to this warmth. Families like the Blacks. I may not know Sirius at all, but I when I see the painfully uncaring and disdainful way his parents treat him in public, I shudder to think about how he is treated at home. I feel sympathy, not pity, but sympathy for Sirius Black. I imagine that he puts on this front of being a ladies man, in order to hide the hurt he has rolling in his heart. He is lucky to have the Marauders, and Felix Felicis has nothing to do with it. Those boys are bound forever by their pain.
The pain that brought them together.
I do not know if James Potter has ever felt pain like the others, but I see him as the glue that holds them together. He is their strength. Remus has always been so studious and quiet, but I know he hides great insecurity and pain behind those good grades. He is the only Marauder I have ever spoken to. Peter, though he must have something going for him in order for them others to keep him around, does not seem like anything other than a small boy who needs protection. Protection that the Marauders have given to him. He idolizes them.
Suddenly the warning whistle of the Hogwarts Express juts me into reality. I had been standing in the middle of the platform, just staring at the spot where the Marauders had been moments before. I looked a fool. Shaking it off, I carefully climbed onto the train. It seemed as if everyone had already found a cabinet, so I was going to have a time finding my friends. After looking through what seemed like hundreds of cabinets, I finally found my destination. Opening the door, I came face-to-face with my best friend, Mary Macdonald.
She is a slight girl with hazel eyes and warm brown hair. She shares a dorm with Lily Evans and me. Lily and I have never been very close, but Mary and I have been friends since the very first day. She has been there to pick up the pieces during every breakdown. Smiling, I sat down and saw that we were not alone. Lily, Alice Prewett, and Frank Longbottom sat smiling across from me. Alice was a Hufflepuff in our year and Frank was a Gryffindor the year above us. They were dating and Alice was a good friend of mine.
Once we had all gotten through the usual greetings, we began doing our own things. Frank and Alice began speaking in low, intimate tones. Lily went to the Prefects car, and Mary and I began playing Exploding Snap whilst catching up. Apparently she had gone to Spain for three weeks in the middle of break, which explained her unusually tanned skin. Neither of us had an owl, so this was the first time we had spoken all summer, we didn't care much for the regular post.
When I was in the middle of telling Mary about my resolution to be more free, the door burst open to reveal a harried looking Peter Pettigrew.
"I can't find my friends. Do you mind if I sit in here for the rest of the way?"
With a look to the rest of us, Mary agreed with a smile, and made room for him next to herself. When Mary and Peter began a conversation, I excused myself to find to the food trolley. Making my way down the hallway, I came across a commotion. Sirius, James and Remus were standing with a group of Slytherins, all of them looking highly annoyed.
As stealthily as possible, I made my way over, intent on finding out what was going on. Once within earshot, I stopped and listened.
"Oi, what did you do with Peter?" barked an irritated Sirius.
"I don't know what you mean Black. What would we want with that little rat?" seethed a greasy Snape.
"Well, all I know is that Peter left our cabinet in this direction and never came back. Now, you gits are standing here, and there is no sign of Peter." stated James with a spark of anger in his hazel eyes. Regulus came out from behind his goons to address his brother with a sneer.
"Like Snape said, we don't know where the tub of lard is, and I suggest you leave unless you want trouble."
"Like hell we will!" Sirius made a move to hex his brother, but before he could, I ran out in front of his wand.
"Stop! I know where Pettigrew is!" I yelled frantically, closing my eyes whilst praying to Merlin I wouldn't be hexed.
"Who are you?" asked a suspicious James. Cautiously opening my eyes, I sighed exasperatedly and replied.
"Roxanne Fitzgerald. I am in the same year and house as you three."
"Really? I don't recall seeing you around." replied a baffled James, running a hand through his hair in confusion.
"Well, maybe if you pulled your heads out of each other's arses, you would have noticed me!" I yelled in annoyance. I have got to admit, this being free stuff felt great! I may be annoyed now, but now I can let it out instead of keeping it in like usual.
"Calm down woman! Merlin, you don't have to be so bitchy." Sirius replied with a slight smirk, wondering how this spitfire had stayed under his radar for four years.
"Ignore them Roxanne. Now, you said that you know where Peter is?" The ever-so-calming Remus stepped in, hands held in front of him as a sign of surrender.
"Yes, he came to my compartment asking to sit with us, seeing as he couldn't find you lot." James piped up.
"Is he still there?" I looked at him with a glare.
"Well I sure as hell hope so." Grudgingly leading them to my cabinet, I made sure to not willingly speak to any of them. I was in a sour mood, and they were the unfortunate targets.
Entering the cabinet, I huffed and sat down by the window, refusing to acknowledge their existence. Mary gave me a weird look, but I ignored it and closed her eyes, hoping to take a nap before we arrived at the school.
Right before I drifted off, I heard a confused Remus ask Mary if anything had happened to me over the summer to cause me to act so different. Mary must have shrugged or something signaling that she did not have an answer because the boys soon excused themselves and left to their own cabinet.
Allowing the tiredness to wash over me, I fell into a dream filled slumber, awaiting the arrival to my fifth year at Hogwarts.