A/N: So I had a storyline for this chapter, but I got to 1500 words and decided to split it in half. The next chapter is actually a tad longer and quite a bit more exciting.
Rachel was sitting in a compartment with Emmeline on the train. They had become very good friends in the past week and Rachel enjoyed her company. Rachel closed her eyes and sighed. That was the calmest she'd ever felt in a long time. She opened her eyes and Emmeline tossed her a chocolate frog from across the compartment.
"Don't fall asleep on me," Emmeline said, "or else I'll be forced to sit here and twiddle my thumbs."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Em," Rachel replied with a smile.
The door to the compartment smashed open loudly to reveal Marlene, who walked in with her usual air of confidence and took a seat next to Emmeline. Always one for an entrance, Rachel observed to herself with a small smile. Marlene smiled back at her.
"You're looking mighty happier," she observed, sitting down next to Emmeline. "What happened? Did Lils fall in a ditch?"
Rachel laughed and replied, "Close, but not quite." Rachel should've been heartbroken, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She was just happy that she now knew exactly what kind of person Sirius was.
At that moment, the compartment door opened to reveal Lily and Dorcas who walked in and took their seats, Dorcas next to Rachel and Lily next to Dorcas. The compartment door opened once more and Mary walked in with a quick greeting to all of them and then proceeded to sit down next to Marlene.
"Hey, where's Alice?" Rachel asked.
"Patching things up," Mary replied with a smirk. They all laughed.
After a long, silent pause, Emmeline sighed and said, "Merlin, I'm bored. We need something fun."
"Glad you brought that up," Dorcas replied. She pulled out a small pouch that seemed to be filled with small, round objects. "Stink bombs and smoke bombs. Snagged them off Peeves. I was thinking we could prank the pranksters."
"Oh, I like the way you think," Emmeline said happily.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no," Lily said quickly. "I am a prefect and I will not tol—"
"No one cares, Lils," Rachel interrupted. "Don't ruin our fun."
Lily sighed. "Fine," she said. After a pause, she added, "and which member of Gryffindor would we be pranking then?"
Dorcas clapped her on the back. "That's the spirit!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "And the Marauders, of course."
"Uh… what?" Rachel said. "You have a death wish, right?"
"Death wish, fun," Dorcas started. "Same thing."
Marlene stood up. "I'm game."
Rachel glanced at everyone else in the compartment. She sighed and rolled her eyes as she stood up. "Fine. Let's do this."
Rachel leaned her body fully against the outer compartment wall as the candy trolley rolled past her. She let out a small sigh of relief as the trolley witch strolled past, not seeing past her disillusionment charm. She looked back and detected the slightest, petite blur that could only be Mary.
Rachel tightened her grip around the small, convenient stink bomb in her left hand and a smoke bomb in her right. She waited close by the door that led inside the Marauders' compartment. Any minute now, Remus would have to open the door to leave for prefect duties.
The six of them decided to spare him. He was too nice.
In that moment, the door opened and Rachel just barely slipped in as Remus walked out. She felt someone tighten their hand around her arm and knew that one other person had made it in only. They'd have to give the Marauders a reason to open the door again.
"So Padfoot," she heard James say, "been up to anything lately?"
"Nope," Sirius replied as he popped a Peppermint Imp into his mouth.
"What are you guys doing for the summer?" Peter asked excitedly.
"Everything I can to piss off my parents," Sirius replied with a smirk. "I have a feeling I'll actually need to put in some effort this year."
Rachel rolled her eyes and looked around the compartment. Her eyes landed on the doorknob of the compartment door. She took out her wand and muttered a quick spell, causing the doorknob to shake violently. The Marauders, sans Remus, stopped their chatter and looked up. Sirius stood up and slid the door open to check the hallway. She felt two bodies bash into her, followed by another heavy weight that pushed Rachel all the way back into the compartment window and caused her to fall on the floor, all of the body weight on top of her. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming and took a few deep breaths to not push them all off of her violently.
"Weird," Sirius concluded as he shut the door.
Rachel felt all of the weight suddenly come off her so she took the opportunity to stand up. She reached out to find her friends, which was simple considering they were all squished together in a far corner of the compartment, and clutched the smoke bomb tightly in her hand.
With a push of courage, she threw down her smoke bomb, causing black smoke to erupt from it and reduce the visibility in the compartment completely. Five other bangs were heard as the other bombs were activated. The six of them quickly dropped their stink bombs and exited the compartment as quickly as they could.
The moment they exited, a loud bang emitted from the compartment and the six of them made a break for it, laughing like idiots. They were visible by now, but only because some of the black smoke had settled on them. Once they had all reached their compartment, they removed their disillusionment charms and tumbled into their compartment laughing.
"Now that is how you end your year with a bang," Emmeline commented.
"Obviously, we have to top this next year," Dorcas added.
"Well, duh," Rachel agreed, smiling widely.
Lily sighed. The smile on her face was very apparent. "I can't help but agree that that was quite a bit of fun," she said. "And they had it coming."
"I'm happy we spared Remus," Mary commented. "He wrote my final Transfiguration essay in third year."
The six of them laughed as they recounted the recent events for the rest of the train ride.
"So apparently, while I was on prefect duties, the rest of the Marauders got pranked, "Remus explained to Lily and Rachel. "Go figure. I guess they really do need me."
"Yeah, and now you can rub it in their faces for the rest of your lives," Rachel added.
"Perks," Lily commented.
Remus sighed. "I probably won't rub it in their faces."
"Yeah, you're too nice," Dorcas commented as she walked up behind them. "I mean, what's wrong with you?"
Remus laughed. "You have a good summer, too."
He walked off to join his family. Rachel turned to Lily and Dorcas. "See you guys soon, hopefully?" Rachel said hopefully. "Keep in touch!"
She walked off to meet up with her father. She could tell he had just gotten off from work as he was still in his doctor's coat. He probably left as quickly as he could to meet Rachel there. And as she handed off her trunk to him, she couldn't help but think that she couldn't ask for a better father.
"Mate, keep in touch," James told Sirius. "Wouldn't want us falling apart."
"A divorce would be dreadful," Sirius replied with mock despair. The two of them broke out into laughter and waved goodbye.
Sirius reluctantly turned toward his family. Regulus was already there and he seemed to be eagerly discussing something with the dreadful human beings that were his parents. His father seemed to be listening intently to Regulus, but also focusing on Sirius, his beady eyes piercing straight through Sirius.
Sirius narrowed his eyes at his father as he reluctantly rolled his trunk over to his parents and brother. He stood his trolley upright and leaned against it.
"So, what's the first family activity?" Sirius asked sarcastically. "A trip to Prague? Maybe Rome, I've always wanted to see Rome."
"Watch your mouth, young man," his father hissed at him through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sirius brushed him off. "Anyway, you should've been there when Regulus here got his arse kicked in Quidditch. Wished I caught it on tape, but that's a muggle thing isn't it?"
The senior Black sent a vicious glare towards Sirius at his comment before swiftly turning around and briskly walking off. His mother stuck her nose in the air and followed after. Regulus trailed behind them and Sirius reluctantly dragged his feet to the dreadful place he called home.
When he looked up, the first thing he saw was Rachel embracing her father. He smiled at her and they immediately started chatting.
And why in the name of Merlin could Sirius not have parents that actually cared about him?
Yep, so that's that.
-Any guess on part 2 of this brief storyline?
-Grammar/spelling?
-How was the prank? Too far-fetched? OOC?
Thanks for reading :) x Chapter 13 will hopefully be up Friday!