Once Upon a Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
AN: I'm back!!! :) I know….. it's been ages, almost a year since my last update. But I promise to write faster and stop putting it off. So I give people permission to pester me if I need to be pestered.
Without further ado…here is the next chapter of the fan fiction.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my characters
Chapter 10- Raiya's rules
The first few weeks of autumn passed in a blur. Crisp brown leaves on Hogwarts grounds gave way to colder days and the Hogwarts students found themselves needing to wrap up in huge coats or warm themselves by the soft crackling fire of the common room.
The Gryffindors were no exception to this and they were all either cosied up by the fire on the armchairs or enjoying the warmth of the common room on cushioned chairs with parchment spread out over the wooden tables. Many of those on armchairs were relaxing, the thought of homework and three foot long parchment essays off the thoughts of many; the marauder's especially, even Remus found himself avoiding his work.
"Winter's not very good for me" he started only to be cut off by an alert James, Peter and Sirius.
"Does it have anything to do with your furry problem?" Sirius asked lowering his voice, fearing that somebody would overhear.
"No winter's just distracting me from my studies" he commented simply.
James and Sirius groaned and Peter rolled his eyes and commented saying "Of course it has something to do with studying"
James added on "You work too hard Mooney. I know you're a prefect but you a marauder and marauder laws must be upheld"
"We solemnly swear we are up to no good!" James and Sirius hi- fived at the same time giving way to laughter.
From the distance, as Lily had refused to be any closer to Potter, Raiya allowed a smile to graze her face. At least if James wasn't Lily's model of perfection he still had a sense of humor and Raiya knew that Lily did find herself amused at times only to mask it with feelings of anger and contempt towards him. Both Lily and James had the need to live life to the full, and they both knew how to have fun, even though Lily was much more controlled than James.
Lily watched Raiya out of the corner of her eye inquisitively; Lily left her feather quill resting on the piece of parchment and decided to continue her questioning of Raiya's relationship with the marauders.
"Hey Raiya, you still haven't explained why you've become such good friends with Potter and his friends" Lily said Potter with distaste and suspicion evident in her tone of voice.
"Really, I'm sure we've had this conversation before. Or are you going to keep asking me about it?" Raiya said annoyed.
She felt extremely conflicted with Lily being one of her good friends and James' reliance on her to bring him and Lily closer. Being blunt was the only way she could try and block Lily from finding out her plans with the marauders, but it still didn't make her feel any better when lying or avoiding Lily's questions.
Raiya softened her tone, "I guess I just saw the James you keep failing to see. You really need to let your anger go slightly"
Lily ignored Raiya's comment, refusing to understand it, and instead with a "humph" she returned to her essay on potions, leading her thoughts to Severus and him calling her a mudblood. Lily sighed deeply replacing a strand of red hair behind her ear.
"What are you thinking about?" Raiya asked
" Snape and the lake last summer" Lily replied
"Oh" Raiya said hesitantly "he was completely out of line but at least you saw his true colours right?" Raiya muttered, "if only you'd see James's"
"Yes I suppose. But it still hurt at the time and it still does a bit. I just never expected it to come from him, especially after how long we've been friends" Lily said sadly, "Anyway we have work to get on with."
Raiya, realizing Lily's need to turn her attention to working, left the topic and started her own potions essay. Her mind however was focusing on other topics like how to change James enough for Lily to finally say yes. She pursed her lips slightly; all her ideas were going to be reasonably hard for James, especially with his pride. She lost track of time as she tried to produce a list of things in her hand.
Lily tapped Raiya on the shoulder instantly making her jump, "What? What did I miss? Who? When? Where?"
Lily suppressed a laugh at Raiya's frantic questioning and answered, "Only curfew. Everyone accept us, and Potter and his friends have left".
"Oh, right ok" she collected all of her books together and as Lily was ascending the staircase mentioned that she wanted to talk to James for a bit. Lily raised an eyebrow at her but let it go, not wishing to open up a new conversation and start a new argument. Raiya almost never gave in. Lily cringed at James' voice when he called, "Byeeeeeeeee Evans" and she turned the corner and entered the girl's dormitories wondering what Raiya was talking about.
Raiya turned to James, "When are we meant to be meeting next? I still have tons of work to do" Raiya rolled her eyes thinking about how the teachers had suddenly loaded them with so much work already and it was only about two months into the year.
"This Thursday? I've already done my work; I decided to take Remus' advice seeing as he believed Lily would like me more for it" James grinned, highly proud of himself.
Raiya mock- saluted Remus with a smile, "I think you should listen to him more. He speaks wise words"
Sirius scoffed, "and then what, we'd have to give all the pranks and all the mischief? Then we wouldn't be the marauders and the world would be worse for it"
Raiya lifted her hands, "Hey, I'm just giving advice; you don't have to take it. Plus it's for James and Lily not for you, so I don't see how it affects you that much".
James' eyes flickered from Sirius to Raiya and seeing an argument brewing, he settled it by saying, "Till Thursday" and grinning happily.
Raiya waved a quick goodbye and made her way up the staircase and into her bed. She could hear Lily turning in her bed and was highly grateful that she didn't have to keep answering her questions. Raiya shrugged to herself, trying to assure herself Lily would be grateful at the end of it. Her heart plummeted when she wondered how long it would take before she could stop lying. With unsettling thoughts in her head she turned on her side and went to sleep.
From Monday to Thursday the days seemed to blur together and Raiya found herself almost anticipating their next meeting. Lily had already been allowing her more freedom and to get away with her late night "excursions" and so on Thursday night she was outside the room of requirement pacing up and down, lifting her heels off the floor so as not to make any noise.
"Hey guys" she commented as she entered the room, sinking into the same brown armchair as usual and looking around at the people in the room.
"Hey Raiya" James responded smiling and being highly grateful that she was still helping him.
Raiya found herself smiling back, "do you not get tired of being so happy all the time?" she wondered thinking about her own quick personality changes, and how she never managed to keep one emotion for that long.
"No I don't. In the face of true love I will prevail and always be happy!" James' arm shot to his side in determination
Sirius snickered in the background, "I think you're insane"
Peter instantly came to James' defence, "But it is Lily Evans and he's been pining for her since ages. It's expected that James goes a bit crazy talking about her"
Raiya laughed and her blue eyes sparkled, "Anyway to this brilliant plan of mine"
Sirius snorted "which includes not pranking and not having fun"
Raiya shot him a look and continued, "I'm figuring that there are quite a few things which you need to overcome in order to win Lily over"
James paled slightly under her authoritative tone, " What do I have to do? Should I give up already?"
Raiya sighed exasperated, " Why is it that when it comes to annoying Lily you find it easier to keep going and you just give up when it comes to winning her over? If you like her that much you'll at least try"
James frowned slightly, " I guess I can try, I never really thought about it that much"
Raiya grinned, "Brilliant. So there are a couple of rules you need to follow first.
1. Limit pranks unless absolutely necessary.
2. Stop fussing over her every minute. Be polite and civil rather than crazed and obsessive.
3. Try and become friends before anything else.
4. Tone the pride down a bit.
5. Be patient.
That's all" Raiya finished.
Sirius and James were both looking at her with dumbfounded expressions. "You can't seriously expect me to do all that!" James asked.
"Come on it's not that hard and it's for Lily. How long have you been pranking her and trying to get her attention? Plus in the end you'd both be really good together. I wouldn't be helping you if I didn't think you could do it"
James responded with a simple "Ok I'll do it"
Sirius was slightly disgruntled, "If you're wrong Raiya, you will pay"
"Yeah, yeah" she said waving off his comment.
The rest of the night was spent with Raiya trying to explain Lily's basis for disliking James and her explaining the rules and how they'd help. Sirius quipped in unnecessary comments in the background to Raiya's annoyance whereas Remus and Peter were being extremely helpful with their comments and encouragement.
As Raiya made to leave, Sirius whispered to her, "I think you're just coming here to see more of me".
Raiya ignored his comment, not wanting to start an argument again, and left waving bye to all of them and shutting the door silently on the way out.
James turned to his best three friends, "What do you guys think?"
Peter and Remus were in agreement that the result would be worth it in the end and that with two years left of Hogwarts it would be a shame if he gave up. Sirius reluctantly agreed with them knowing that Lily would make his best friend happier and he managed to console himself with the fact that he was doing this for James who had already given him so much, even a home when he was chucked out.
By the end of the night, Raiya's rules were in place and it was just down to destiny and James to see whether they would change anything of Lily and James' relationship.
AN: Woop I updated. Sorry it's been so long. Please review :) Jess and Kaylyn turn up in the next one...