Here's a shout out to Girl-With-No-Name-x who was my 200th reviewer! XD I shall reward you with the world's biggest gummy bear!
Ch 29 The Names September
It was with a bittersweet apprehension that I pushed my heavily loaded trolley through the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. Dad had refused to drive me down, so I'd had to take the tube. Emily wanted to come, but I'd flat out refused to let her as she'd have to have taken the tube back all by herself. We'd said goodbye up at the house. I still felt incredibly guilty for leaving her, despite her protests that she could handle it.
Life was so different without Mum around. I felt myself missing her desperately though I still didn't know why. It wasn't as if she had ever been particularly motherly towards me. On top of this I was nervous about how my friends were going to react when I saw them next. I wasn't the only one who'd be grieving. Poor Alice had lost five members of her extended family.
I felt the usual rush of excitement as I looked around the busy platform and the gleaming train. I remembered my very first day. I certainly didn't want to relive those years. Then again, I wasn't entirely content with life at the moment either... I suppose there was nothing to do but push on.
As I headed over to the baggage drop off, I felt a warm hand reach from behind and touch my cold one.
"REMUS!" I shrieked, stopping the trolley and spinning around to embrace him. "I've missed you so much."
"I've missed you too Jace. How've you been?" He held me at an arm's length and gave me a quick once over. "Jaycee...You're so skinny. And pale." I could tell he was a little shocked. Especially when him noticed my bruises and cuts that had yet to heal. "Jace? What's going on?"
"Home's not been so great... that's all." I mumbled, looking at my feet. He looked sad for a moment and then hugged me again, conveying comfort easily.
"Thanks, Rem." I smiled at him weakly. Then I noticed how pale he looked, himself. And the dark bags under his eyes. I remembered that last night was a full moon. "Oh Remus. You and me. Neither of us have had the best summer, have we."
He shrugged and dumped his bags on my trolley. "Let's drop these off and find the others."
The train ride was, as I had feared, rather subdued. Lily and Mary were definitely treading carefully around Alice and me. I hated that they felt like they needed to do that. I left the compartment for a while, sick of their hushed voices and selected words. It was then I saw Sirius again. He waved warmly at me, but I, still feeling overwhelmed and to be honest a little confused about what I had felt yesterday nodded and hurriedly walked away in the opposite direction. I felt bad for brushing him off, but I wanted to sort out exactly what I was feeling towards him before I spoke to him again.
I rode up to the castle with Remus, James and Peter. Sirius was probably, no doubt, with his latest conquest. It was a silent and a little awkward journey, but I was grateful no one had yet asked me how I was feeling. Remus had deduced what was going on by now and had his arm wrapped protectively around my shoulders. I was so lucky to have a Remus, and I would never forget it, I thought to myself.
V V V V V V V V V V V V V
"I'm just going to Madam Pomfrey before bed." Remus muttered to Sirius, James, Peter and I.
"You'll miss the speech!" Mary exclaimed, overhearing. He shrugged before slinking towards the grandiose doors. No one else said much as we were all rather subdued. The sorting had just taken place giving us the most new Gryffindors we've had in a while, 14. The hat had delivered an outright prediction this year. A war was never closer. For Alice, it seemed, the war had already started. She wasn't sitting with us, rather with Frank Longbottom from the year above. On the train she'd told us his parents had been friends with her older cousins. They'd been at the funeral too. Frank being the closest to Alice's age and recognizing her from school, hadn't left her side much all day. They were now firm friends. Joined in grief. It was amazing how such tragedies could instigate such strong bonds.
Watching Remus slowly make his way out of the Hall, I was overcome by a sense of terrible pity for him. He looked so lonely and small. It just wasn't right! Remus was the nicest person I knew. Why did he have to suffer like this? Why should anyone ever have to? I glared at the boys, all of whom looked slightly taken aback.
"That's it." I stated firmly. "You know what lesson tonight. We are finishing this thing and we are finishing soon." I tried not to make eye contact with Sirius. Peter gulped. I didn't blame him. He had not shown much promise so far. In 4 months all he could produce was a haze-y mist. James gritted his teeth and looked determined. He had been thinking the way I had, I could tell. I stole a glance at Sirius. He was looking a bit put out with my lack of acknowledgement. I didn't really blame him, but I was nervous to face him still. Lily raised her eyebrows upon hearing this. I knew she didn't know what we were talking about, but I also knew her well enough to be fully aware of the fact she was going to do her best to find out. She opened her mouth, but was cut short by a familiar slitherly voice that made my blood boil.
"Hello Aigleigh. It was superb catching up with you yesterday." Malfoy popped the 'p' of 'superb' clearly indicating how unsuperb he found our little meeting. I must say, I felt the same way. Nott and Avery guffawed on either side of him. Was he really NEVER without those two?
"Yes. Yes it was. Now bugger off and go bother someone else." I hissed, not taking my eyes off the mashed potatoes on my plate. I felt Sirius' eyes on me and looked up quickly to meet his stare. We both very quickly and awkwardly, averted our eyes, mine returning to my dinner. Malfoy looked around the table with the smirk he seemed to have constantly plastered on his face.
"What's this I see? Black and Aigleigh seem to be rather distant this night. Broken up already, have we?" He snickered. Nott and Avery joined in.
"What?" James said, aghast. "You two weren't going out, were you!" He glared at Sirius with vengeance.
"No we weren't." I kicked James under the table with my foot.
"Yeah.." Sirius agreed, also very focused on his dinner.
"Remember what I told you, Aigleigh. Watch yourself. The Dark Lord is very interested in those with... hidden talents." He sneered at us and regally glided away, Nott and Avery following suit, if a little less gracefully.
Mary had been listening intently for most of the conversation with a look of concern plastered on her face. "What's that supposed to mean, Jaycee?" She tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.
"I have no idea, Mary." I replied, trying to sound as bemused as she was. Really, however, just under the surface I was bubbling with discord and fear. What had he meant when he had said that? Surely, surely he couldn't know... I had been so careful! And neither Remus nor Sirius would have told Malfoy of all people. Had they? No. They would never have betrayed me like that. Then what could he possibly have meant?
I sat in silence for the rest of dinner, replaying the moment and concocting all sorts of ideas of what he had meant. But each seemed as unlikely as the former. I didn't even listen throughout Dumbledore's speech. I knew it would just reinforce the hat's song. What did Malfoy know? How did he know it? Those we the two questions burning in my mind.
"Jace? We heading off before bed then?" James shook my shoulder. I started, awoken from my daze.
"Uh- yup!" I stood up too quickly and got a bit of a head rush. "Let's go! We are going to work our asses off tonight."
And work our assess off we did. Or they did. I just yelled a lot. Which was plenty fun.
"Goldy, pleeeaaaase, we're dying over here! Can we take a break for a minute?" Sirius begged and collapsed on the floor, exhausted. James and Peter nodded frantically.
"No! You can take a break when Peter produces a corpeal patronus. You two just keep practicing your animagus." I realized I was acting similar to a slave-driver, but I was doing it for Remus. And because I had a lot of pent up frustration from the summer that needed to get out in less than violent manners.
"Looks like we're stuck here forever! Even I didn't take this long." James complained. Peter frowned.
"Hey don't be mean. Peter can do it." I slapped his arm. "Come on Peter! Happy! Think HAPPY!"
"Ok ok! I'm trying." He squeaked and squeezed his eyes shut again. To produce some more vapour.
James and Sirius groaned and slouched against the walls of the classroom, having given up for the night. I no longer cared. I just wanted Peter to get his damn patronus.
"Again." I sighed.
It took another half an hour, but finally, finallyon what must have been over a 1000 attempts Peter managed to produce a real proper patronus. A rat. James and Sirius both howled with laughter, watching the little silver animal scuffle around the room. Peter looked a bit put out. I didn't blame him. Who'd want to turn into a rat? But I, as the teacher, had to be encouraging.
"Yay!" I cheered. "Good job, Pete!" I joined the other two on the floor. "Leave him alone, you sodding... sods." I managed to come up with.
"Sodding... sods?" Sirius raised one eyebrow and snickered.
"Oh shut up." I poked his cheek. He grabbed my hand away from his face. My heart rate sped up and I felt a bolt of electricity rush up my veins when he touched my hand. I ripped my hand away from his and knew for a fact I was blushing. What the hell was going on?
He awkwardly folded his hands together and shuffled his legs around. James nudged his friend and gave him a perplexed look. Sirius shrugged and looked away.
"Soooo anywayyyy." James tried to break tension. Peter sat down with us, happier now that he'd made some headway.
"Nicknames! I've decided I'mgoing to be Prongs!"
We all looked at him strangely.
"You know... cause I'm a stag..." He sounded disappointed that his genius hadn't immediately clicked.
"Ok, Prongs." Sirius laughed. "I'll beeee... Hmmmm... Uhh... Wagtail?"
Despite the tense atmosphere between the two of us, I couldn't help but break into shrieks of laughter. James was rolling on the floor, red faced, howling with laughter. Peter straining to keep a straight face, afraid of what would happen if he laughed at Sirius Black.
"N-n-no! P-p-please!" I spluttered. "I could n-n-never take you seriously a-a-again!"
"Fine. What do you think then, if you're so great at names?" He crossed his arms and scowled.
"I dunno. It's your nickname." I had finally managed to contain my laughter and biting my bottom lip hard so not to lose control again.
"Be something cooler than... Wagtail!" James snorted. "That's more of a Peter name!" Suddenly his face lit up. "PETER'S WORMTAIL!"
"I don't want to be called-" Peter began.
"BRILLIANT MATE!" Sirius cut him off, high fiving James.
"Now you... Dogs have... tails, long noses... I don't like longnose much," James mused.
Sirius and I exchanged looks, forgetting for a second our previous awkward moment.
"Dogs also have- hmmmmm paws, pads on their paws... paddedpaw? No that's silly... Padpaw? Better, better. Foot. Padfoot. I LIKE IT!" He suddenly exclaimed. "Sirius Orion Black, from this day on you shall be known as Padfoot!"
Sirius and James dig a little victory dance in their seated positions, or what I assume was a dance. It was humorous, nonetheless.
"So now you've got Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs... Very very cool, guys" I said sarcastically. They didn't seem to pick up on it though.
"I know right!" James said excitedly. "Tell Evans that I, single handed, came up with the nicknames for our group. I am a pure genius. She won't be able to resist my intelligence." He sighed happily, thinking about Lily again.
"Um. No." I said.
"What are we going to call ourselves? We have to have a super de duper cool gang name." Sirius interrupted James daydream.
"The Lion Pride?" Peter suggested. The two boys looked at him.
"I will not dignify that suggestion with a response." James said. I rolled my eyes. Here they were, almost 15 years old, discussing gang names.
"It should be like The Troublemakers," Sirius began, hastily finishing when James opened his mouth "NOT that, obviously, but something LIKE that!"
"Ok what are the synonyms of troublemakers then?"
"Wow Potter. Big word. I'm impressed." I said. James pulled a tongue.
"The Pirates"
"The Pillagers"
"The Riffraffs."
"Dear Merlin don't be the Riffraffs. I'd have to stop hanging out with you." I begged. They ignored my input and continued shooting names at each other.
"I heard a really cool one once." James rapped his fingernails on the floor, thinking. "It began with an M or something."
"Mmmmmalice? Mmmmmadman? Mmmmmarauder?" I offered, trying to think up synonyms. James leapt up, pulling me with him and hugged me so tightly I felt that my ribs might explode.
"Jaaaames! Can't-Breathe!" I gasped. He released me, grinning widely.
"THE MARAUDERS!" He raised his arms and bowed to an imaginary crowd. Sirius applauded. Peter quickly joined in the applause. I covered my face with my hands.
"GENIUS! You, Prongs, aka James Harry Potter and a bloody genius!" Sirius, or should I say 'Padfoot' clapped him on the back.
"Why thank you, Padfoot my man." James replied.
"Ok Marauders" I mocked, "I think it's time to head off now before we're found."
They willingly complied, very happy with their new names.
V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V
"Jaycee," I heard Lily hiss from her bed. I froze in the rather awkward position of halfway through taking large step to my bed. Lily huffed. "I can see you, you know."
I took two more large, albeit loud steps to my bed and pulled the covers over my face. "No you can't!"
"You're such an idiot." Lily lay back and turned over to face away from me. "Remind me why I like you again?" She mumbled.
"Because I'm excellent comic relief?" I suggested, changing into my pyjamas under the covers to stay warm.
"Yes. This is true." She replied. "I'm not going to bother asking where you went tonight because you never answer me, but Jaycee for the love of Merlin I will find out."
I snuggled into my pillow and duvet. "You're such a busy-body, Lil."
"Am not!" She replied indignantly, sitting up.
"Are too, but don't worry, I love you despite your busy-bodyness." I yawned.
Lily huffed again and almost lay back down again. She paused and then asked, "So what's going on between you and Black then?"
"I rest my case..." I grumbled. "Nothing. Now shush and go to sleep."
"You don't fool me. You like him. I know you do." She said smugly before yawning and shuffling around to get comfortable again.
"Do not..." I replied. But even as I said it, as I had so many times before, I was beginning to think maybe it wasn't quite the truth anymore. And that worried me. I couldn't like Sirius Black! He was the biggest womanizer in the school! And he was my friend. Even if I stood a chance, which I surely didn't, I didn't want to be just another notch on his bedpost. I wouldn't be.
AHHHHH! OVER 200 REVIEWS! AHHH! I LOVE YOU GUYS! :D :D :D Thank you thank you thank you! XD XD XD
RMH RMH: haha I can't say anything! But you're going to hate me lol. Thanks for reviewing!
Jaisler: Thanks for the review I'm actually thinking about changing the plot. Everyone seems to want that. Peut-etre! (Maybe)
LittleMissDreamer7:Wow! Thanks sooo much! That is such a compliment! And the review :D
disler: Maaaaaaaaaybeeeeeeee, I guess we'll just have to see ;) Thanks for the review!
Luli Cullen: Voila! Your wish is my command! :D Thanks for r-r-r-r-reeeviewwwing
xLoveHarryPotterx: Thanks so much I'll do my best! Haha
mykk47: I wish. That would be awesome, but Emily hasn't shown any magical talent Thanks for the review
thebritishone: Wowowowowowowoww! Your review (again) was so long and lovely! Thank you to the moon and back! You've given me some great name ideas! I'm really liking The Survivor for the last part (for some splinteresting plot twists my friend and I worked out over the holidays) and the others are awesome too! I'm totally with Sirius on the chocolate thing as well lol. I can't tell you the whoooole plot, BUT I assure you, I'm definitely sticking to the canon. At least I'll try. I may make a few slip ups, but that's what all you guys are for :D So thanks again for such a nice review
CurlsOfGlory: ahahaha love the sign name thingy. Thanks for reviewing. I quite like the idea of using a name like that :D
Ivori: Thanks so much I'm sooo happy you like it!
Girl-With-No-Name-x: GUESS WHO YOU ARE? AN AWESOME 200th REVIEWER! *love heart love heart love heart* I had an awesome time! Thanks for asking And also thanks for the lovely compliments in your review :D I'm so glad I've stumbled upon a fellow Sirius maniac! And that is a pun if you think about it ;)
Anonymous: Wow thanks so much So glad you took the time to review even though you don't have an account!
Hellfire Putten Ninja: IT ACTUALLY SHOULD! Wait... does that mean I have to go to Azkaban? NOooooooo don't send me to that evil placeeee! D': Thanks for the review though!
