Title: Change Chapter Five: The Feast Summary: Remus, Sirius, and James get to know each other. Caitlyn, Gabrielle, and Lily have an equally entertaining pow-wow.

After the headmistress sat down the tables fill with food. "Amazing," Lily said when she saw the table covered in a sea of dishes. She wasn't sure what to pick first and she wanted to just get some of everything, but then again she didn't want to look insane in front of her new friends, at least she hoped they were her friends anyways. She decided to get some green bean casserole and brisket. When she bit into it she smiled widely. It was the most wonderful food she had ever tasted, not that her mother was a bad cook or anything. She took a few more bites and they well all equally delicious.

"Hey Lily!" Gabrielle called to her. She looked up with a mouth full of meat and her cheeks reddened. Gabrielle and a girl across the table were staring at her. "Good, now that you've took your attention away from the food for a moment I can introduce you to Caitlyn." Lily's face grew even brighter as she hurriedly chewed the food. Before she was though, Lily reached a hand out to shake Caitlyn's. The girl across the table grabbed it and shook it up and down several times.

"Hey!" she exclaimed more loudly than necessary. "I'm Caitlyn. I suppose that you are Lily, but I'll leave you with your true love," she gestured to Lily's plate grinning. Lily's face looked even more worried. She had already embarrassed herself. Caitlyn saw her expression and laughed a little. "Come on. I was only joking. Look around. Everyone is doing the same thing." She looked and saw that several other people were entranced in their food as well. She smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry...I just, well...you know." She looked at the ceiling. "Oh! My name is Lily, by the way."

"Yeah...I've heard," said the girl. Lily was once again blushing. "That was another joke."

"Right, right."

Next to her a mischievous looking James was tapping Remus on the shoulder. "Hey, tear yourself away from the girls side for a second and sit by us." Remus looked at Lily and saw that she was busy talking with the new girl. He hadn't learned her name yet.

"Alright then." He got up and followed James who gestured him into the seat between him and Sirius. Immediately Sirius had a pleased look on his face. Remus was suspicious of their intentions. "What do you want?" he asked, looking at them questioningly. They seemed nice enough, but there was something about them...

James and Sirius looked at each other with knowing expressions, but soon replaced them with innocence. They looked at Remus and Sirius was making a slightly disappointed face. "You hardly know us and yet you already doubt us." Remus was about to speak, but James cut him off.

"No, no. He's right. We shouldn't be trusted. Not be most." He turned to face Remus. "But you...we see something in you. Something useful."

"What might that be?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. Curiosity was beginning to get the better of him and he forgot that the two of them were unpredictable for a moment.

"Well you," said Sirius. "Have certain qualities we need."

"Such as honesty, innonece, charm..."

"Hey! I have charm too!" protested Sirius. James ignored him and continued.

"Actually, you don't necessarily have all these. Really it's better if you don't."

"True. Good point, Jamesy-boy."

"What are you two going on about?"

"Well, we need a good actor. Like you. Someone who can do something...fun, but not get caught. Some one with brains."

"What do you mean?" said Remus still not understanding.

"We mean that we want you to join our group."

"What kind of group?" Remus shot, once again suspicious.

"A mischievous little thing, really."

"Genius little idea that James had. The Marauders..." Sirius looked at Remus expecting amazment, but he just looked at them with an eyebrow cocked. He seemed to be thinking for a moment and mouthed the word "Marauder," several times.

"Your going to look for treasure like pirates?" he said with an odd look on him face.

"Not us. We. Anyways, we mean it in a different source of the word. Our treasure would be adventure."

"Not to mention entertainment," James added.

"Whats the use of learning magic when you don't have fun?"

"Yeah! What's the use?" James echoed. "So are you in?" Before Remus could answer a muffled voice came from behind them.

"Hey Remus!" Peter exclaimed overly excited. He looked at the James and Sirius and his face fell. "You're the ones who kicked me out of the compartment on the train," he accused.

Back where the girls were sitting Gabrielle and Lily were clutching their sides in silent laughter. Gabrielle even had a few tears streaming down her face. "No, that's not even the good part yet," Caitlyn was saying. She tried to get the other girls to stop laughing, but they just shook their heads between gasps for air. Caitlyn decided to continue anyways. "So then the guy pulls out his wand and starts saying all these random words that he just made up. He was trying to invent his own spell!" Caitlyn allowed herself a little laughter at her own story while Lily and Gabrielle were calming themselves.

"He actually believed her when she told him that?" Gabrielle asked. Caitlyn nodded with a grin.

"You two are both so funny." They reminded Lily of her ex-best friend, but she resolved not to think about the things of her past. Especially the ones that she had been so happy to leave behind. They smiled at her.

"Thanks," said Gabrielle.

"I try," commented Caitlyn. Lily smiled at them and ate a few more bites of what was quickly becoming her favorite food. Everyone seemed to enjoying him or herself. The atmosphere was happy and hardly anyone could help but smile. Lily looked around the hall and let her gaze lay on the Slytherins. They were smiling too, but some how their smiles were not as cheerful as everyone else's. She decided this was as pleasant of a sight as she wished for and she turned her eyes to the teacher's table. Immediately she noticed a familiar face when she had not expected to.

"Emily!" she said unexpectedly. Her friends looked at her oddly and followed her gaze to the teachers table.

"You mean Professor Croucher?" Caitlyn asked. Lily though for a moment to remember the woman's last name.

"Yeah. I mean Professor Croucher," she agreed.

"She's my aunt," Caitlyn told them. "She teachers defense of the dark arts."

"I bet that will be my favorite class," Lily said with a smile.

"What, have you met her before?"

"She took me to get my supplies."

"You're the one? She said she thought you were going to be a really good witch."

"Did she?"

"Mhmm."

"Is she cool?" asked Gabrielle as she watched the teacher lean over and speak to a strict looking man next to her.

"Yeah, but the guy next to her isn't. She told me that he doesn't like any house, but Slytherin and that he is a little bit off in the brain department." The last comment made them chuckle.

"What does he teach?" Gabrielle and Lily said in unison. This made them laugh again.

"Herbology. He talks to his plants!" The three of them howled with insane giggling once more.

"Hello, Mr. Tree. How are you? Are you hungry?" Gabrielle imitated in a gruff voice while petting invisible plants.

A few places down the stone table Peter had forced his way in between James and Remus and they were now trying to talk around him.

"So what do you say Remus old boy?" Sirius asked after Peter had stopped wiggling around and started munching his food.

"About what?" Peter said with his voice muffled by potatoes. A fifth year across the table looked at him with open disgust.

"Nothing," James said trying to give them the picture that he didn't want Peter to know.

"Just this thing," Remus continued anyway. "A club kind of thing."

"Oh! A club? Let me join." His face looked pleading and Remus looked to the two darker haired boys. Sirius gave him an indignant face, but his look persisted.

"Come here a second Sirius." James stood up and stepped a few feet away from the table and Sirius followed. "We can not let him join."

"I think he," he pointed to Remus who was watching them closely, "is going to persist until we let him."

"But we're supposed to be legendary!" James whined.

"We need the other though. Without him we'll be missing any chance of faking innocence. Maybe Peter will have a use."

"I doubt it. I mean, did you see the way he ran when we tried out our prank on him..." he trailed off obviously coming up with an idea.

"Are you thinking?"

"Yes."

"Wow!"

"Could you cut it out for a minute?"

"Sheesh. Just joking mate."

"No. I just have an idea." He thought for just a second longer before nodding. "He can be our test dummy. And maybe the bait?"

"Brilliant," Sirius replied a little to loudly. The strict looking teacher glared at him from the high table. They walked back to the table and sat down.

"The grand counsel has decided..." James paused for fake dramatic effect. Peter was twitching with excitement and his eyes were wide. He had paused mid-chew, but luckily his mouth was closed this time.

"That Peter may be admitted as soon as Remus accepts," Sirius finished with a flourish. Peter looked to Remus with another begging face. Remus twisted his mouth back and forth a few times before he answered.

"I'm in," he said with a nodd. James and Sirius high-fived each other and Peter squealed with glee.

"What are we going to do first?" Remus asked, taking a bite of his food.

"That's precisely what we were going to ask you." Remus gave them a questioning look.

"Well, you didn't think we were just going to let you in for nothing, did you?"

"Well, yeah, I did."

"Look, I promise this will be worth it. Only if you are worthy though."

"Pull a prank on Slytherin," came a surprising source. The three boys looked down at Peter with their mouths open.

"You're a genius!" Sirius exclaimed after a minute.

"At least right now," James added cautiously. "Remus, your going to have to pull something on Slytherin. Get Peter to help and you are definitely in."

Peter was already nodding in agreement. "Wait a second," Remus said thinking. He wasn't sure what these two were on about, inviting him to a group and then making him prove himself.

"You're going to need more friends than those two girls you know," James pointed out, jerking his thump in their direction. Remus glanced over at them.

Sirius started talking in a girly voice. "How are my nails Remus?"

James joined in. "What to go shopping?"

"Do you think my hair should be up or down or in that half up thing with the cute side-part?" Peter was laughing in his akward little chuckle.

"Do these pants make my butt look big?" At that Remus' eyes widened and even Sirius laughed. "What? My mom asks my dad that all the time and he always gets in trouble."

"Anyways, what we mean is you need a more masculine group of friends than that. I am certainly not going to question you about my buttocks."

"Amen to that!" James cried.

"Alright. I'll do it. Just give me a bit to think of the prank."

Soon the students along the long stone benches and all across the hall were moving more slowly on account of the grand feast they had just consumed. This time none of them had the energy to be amazed when the plates cleared themselves. The headmaster stood up with his eyes twinkling even more brightly than they had been at the start of the feast, if that was possible. Maybe they just seemed brighter with a full stomach. Either way he began to speak again. "I hope you have enjoyed the feast. Your prefects will guide you to your dorms. Remember to get some rest. Classes start tomorrow."

When he was through a few older students from each table stood up and yelled for the first years. Lily and her friends got up and Remus rushed over to walk with them. "Hey Lily." She smiled tiredly at him.

"Hi. Good feast huh?"

"Definitely."

"Did you have fun?"

"I met a new girl, Caitlyn. What about you?" She pointed the light brown haired girl out just in front of them.

"Oh, just talked with Peter, Sirius, and James."

"Cool," Lily said yawning. Remus followed suit and yawned as well. If they had not been so stuffed they might have laughed.

"This way! Watch for the trick step," they're prefect was saying. Of course Peter stepped right into it. James and Sirius rolled their eyes, but when they saw that Remus was looking at them they pulled him out and continued walking. The students were generally quite, minus a few Slytherins who were pointing at everyone with insults.

"His nose is crooked."

"Look at that. Is he cross-eyed?"

Lily was relieved that the other students turned before they could make it to insulting her or her friends. Her friends. She was happy to have people so quickly. At her old school she hadn't met her friends until halfway into the year and they hadn't been comfortable around them until a month after that. Thing were going just as she had wanted. Acceptance gave her a smile that hadn't faded yet and that was a big thing for Lily.

For the rest of the way to the common room the students were either quiet with contentment from the meal or revering the wonders of the school. Every painting they walked by looked at them curiously. Not just in the way that all paintings do. Their eyes following you. Some yawned, one or two glared, a happy looking man waved to them. They were alive.

The paintings were not the only wondrous things. The prefect up ahead told them about the doorways that lead some where different on Wednesday and the ones that wouldn't open unless you tickled their handles. The male prefect who was behind them swore that the suits of armour could move, but the female ahead disagreed. Just as they began to argue the group was halted at a portrait of a rather large women draped in pink robes.

"What's the password again?" the female asked.

"War and blood."

"How...interesting. Definitely set by the guy." He stuck his tounge out at her playfully. "I'm chosing the next one," she taunted.

Somewhere in the crowd, right around James and Sirius, a throat was cleared loudly. The prefects looked away from each other slightly blushing. "Right," said the male.

"Bloody and war. Oh I mean war and blood," she fumbled to the portrait. The lady in it made a face and the painting swung open. Lily was one of the first, along with Remus to enter the room. She stopped and stared around the place with wonder. Comfortable couches and chairs were placed about the room. There was tables perfect for doing homework. Everything was decorated red and gold and above a large fire place a banner with a moving lion hung.

"This is amazing," she said, stepping onto a soft gold rug. Students were rushing past her and bumping her shoulders.

"It is, but you should get to bed. Class tomorrow." Remus was next to her smiling.

"Right...where?" He chuckled a little.

"Up there," he pointed in the direction of a crowd of girls climbing some stairs. "Door that says first years."

Lily looked up to where he had pointed and then back at Remus. "Night, Remus."

"Night, Lily. Sleep well." He joined the stream of boys and she watched for a moment. Once she had shaken herself out of her dreamy state she climbed her stairs. She had just realized how tired she was. The room was even better than the common room, but Lily didn't even give herself time to wonder about it before she found her trunk and changed for bed. She didn't let herself think about her nerves of starting lessons.

Instead she thought about her old life. How easy it was to change her clothes and it was normal. Some changes were harder than others. The change into her new world hadn't been one of the difficult ones. It was like putting on a new shirt to her and this one fit well. She liked it and she felt a sense that she was just tossing the old world into the wash so she might put it on again once it was clean. Maybe when she went back it would be better. She wondered if she would ever want to go back. So far she hadn't.

Lily pulled her hair back and pulled back the thick hangings of her bed. When she had lain down and adjusted her blankets she fell asleep almost immediately. She wanted to hurry and bring another cherished day as quickly as she could.