James surveyed the platform, trying to appear confident but inwardly
very apprehensive. His sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry was about to start, and he was sure it would prove not only to
be tiresome academically but challenging when it came to the touchy
matter of a certain Lily Evans.
James, for his part, thought he was working splendidly at the whole courting thing; on the last day of fifth year he'd said hello to her and she hadn't cursed him, which had to count for something. However, Remus seemed to think otherwise.
"I've told you, James," he called over his shoulder as he walked down the aisle on the train, "You're going it about it all wrong."
"Forgive me if I don't take your advice as much as I should, Moony, but it's rather hard to believe you when you haven't had a girl in eight months," James snapped back. He was rather touchy when it came to courting Lily.
Remus didn't seem too abashed. "I know, but I still know what's best for you."
"Oh, Remus, you have no idea how much you sound like his mother," Sirius said, laughing and peering into a compartment. "Well, they're busy in there," he said lightly. "Come on, we should find one soon enough."
The next compartment contained only two people, but it didn't seem right to go in there. The infamous Marcus Dolby and the even more infamous Layne Redding were flinging curses at each other like there was no tomorrow. Layne and Marcus had been together their entire fifth year, and it was clear that their evident breakup had not been an easy one.
"I know what happened," Peter said. "I'll tell you when we find a compartment." The next compartment was empty, but none of the Marauders wanted to be in such close proximity to the obviously enraged Layne and Marcus, so they opted for the compartment after it, which was void of people.
"So," Sirius said as he settled down onto a seat, "What happened with those two, Peter?"
"Well," Peter said, visibly excited that there was information he had gotten to first, "Layne was dead tired of Marcus, but she didn't want to break up with him--don't ask me why; I haven't any idea. Marcus was getting tired of Layne himself so he started cheating on her this summer. Layne was cheating herself, and when they found out about each other's," Peter coughed, "Summer escapades, they started hexing each other like mad on the platform early this morning. Their friends had to drag them onto the train." Sirius nodded as he gazed out the window, appearing a bit dazed.
"Stunningly beautiful. Fiery. A reputation that precedes her, from which I can only assume she's an excellent kisser. Yeah, I think Layne Redding sounds about right for me."
Remus snorted. "The reputation that precedes her happens to be something along the lines of, 'Lost her virginity at age twelve, is a Ravenclaw but acts like a Slytherin, and almost flunked out of Potions when she called Professor Sifton a "hard-assed miserable old hag"'--to her face."
"Yeah, and she's loaded," Sirius said, smiling vaguely.
Remus buried his face in his hands. "Well, I suppose she's single now. I hope that makes you happy."
"Oh, it does," Sirius assured him. "I'd better talk to her sometime today and start the year off right."
"Talk?" James said, quirking an eyebrow. He highly doubted Sirius had talked with any girl he was after for more than five minutes.
"Well, at first!" Sirius said, pretending to look highly affronted. "I don't just jump into things. I am Sirius Black. Sirius Black has charm and class as well as a great body, esteemed snogging talent, money, and...other redeemable qualities."
Peter snorted.
"Well, I'm going to go see if Layne and Marcus are done yet. There's no time like the present, after all," Sirius said, winking. He left the compartment.
"I should go now, too, actually," Remus said, checking his watch. "Prefects have to patrol and everything...I should be back in an hour." Peter and James looked at each other. James knew what he wanted to do, but he also didn't want to leave Peter.
"Oh, go on," Peter said. "Don't worry; I've got a copy of The Quibbler which has an interesting story in it."
James laughed. "Wormtail, the Quibbler's absolute rubbish."
Peter shook his head. "No, this is real, I'm telling you. There's something called a Double-Headed-Wheemboggler, did you know? There aren't very many left in Europe, but there are a couple abroad in Norway and a few more in--"
James laughed, shaking his head. "I'll be back in a bit," he said, mussing his hair up unnecessarily.
"G'luck!" Peter called to James's retreating back.
James, having looked at Remus's prefect schedule for the train ride, had already memorized when Lily had to patrol, and it wasn't for another two hours. James figured he could chat her up for a few minutes, give her a few dazzling smiles, then snog her senseless. And with his witty humor and benign charm, who could resist?
Remus looked over his prefect schedule, trying to control his breathing. He was right outside the prefect compartment, steadying himself. This was the fourth time he'd double-checked the chart, and it had stayed the same all five times...would that be quinto-checking? It would make sense, seeing as it would be the fourth double-check wouldn't really be double-checking; it would be quinto-checking. But was the 'o' really necessary? Could it just be 'quint-checking.' The word somehow didn't flow as nicely without the 'o'.
"Remus?" Remus dropped his schedule. "With the 'o'!" he blurted.
The eyebrows of Terri Swann knitted together in confusion. "Sorry?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Remus had seen her do that in class so many times, he knew the exact angle relative to the floor that she did it.
"Er..." he said, trying not to blush. He didn't want to explain his 'quint' rambling. "Well, I was thinking about the spells I need to practice--I wasn't really getting the hang of a charm they taught us at the end of last year. Then I realized I wasn't saying one of the syllables with enough of the 'o' sound."
Terri nodded. A brief silence.
"So, are you going to get that or shall I?" she asked.
It was Remus's turn to be confused. "Huh?" he said.
She smiled slightly. Whenever she smiled slightly, the right side of her mouth turned up, not the left. In her larger smiles, both sides turned up evenly. Remus wondered why she favored her right side.
"Your schedule," she said, pointing to the floor.
"Oh!" he said, and bent down to pick it up. He took another glance at it--he supposed he was hex-checking it now. Or maybe hexo-checking. "So you're my patrol partner?" he asked. He wanted to make sure.
"Looks like it," she replied, smiling brightly. Remus breathed a sigh, half of relief that he wasn't imagining it and half of terror. What was he going to talk about it when he was patrolling for a whole hour with Terri Swann? Remus wasn't quite certain why he hadn't told his fellow Marauders about his infatuation with Terri Swann. Sure, they'd tease him a lot, but he'd told them about other girls he'd liked, and he'd been able to deal with the teasing then. There was just something inexplicably different about Terri that kept him back from telling anyone what he felt.
The real reason Remus hadn't had a girl in eight months was, in fact, Terri. He'd started liking her right before fifth year ended. However, she was involved with then sixth year Fabian Prewett, and Remus had hoped that over the long course of the summer he'd be able to get over her. He found, however, that not seeing her only made his feelings for her intensify.
Terri wasn't stunningly pretty, but she had a sort of mysterious air that surrounded her. She had light brown hair that traveled not too far past her shoulders. It had a bit of a natural wave, but Remus thought her most piercing feature was her eyes. They were grey-blue and had an astonishing intensity to them. Remus hardly ever looked her in the eyes for fear of staring too hard and too long into them. Her eyes displayed her personality--mostly fun and games, but also very shrewd and clever. She displayed some very authoritarian qualities, and Remus assumed that was why she was selected as a prefect. She never acted bossy or demanding, though. She just had a strange air about her that made people want to listen to what she said. She was a perfect Ravenclaw, he thought to himself.
"Shall we start, then?" Terri asked.
"I s'pose so," Remus said, trying to keep his voice as even as hers was. They started up the corridor, looking on the compartments. Remus had always hated patrolling the train; it was the most popular place for students to get cozy with each other because there were never any adults that walked around the train other than the witch who pushed the food cart. Remus hated breaking up couples; it was embarrassing not to mention stupid, seeing as anyone he knew above third year had at least made out within the walls of the one of these compartments. Still, it was his job.
"So..." Remus said, racking his brain for something to say. "How're you and Fabian doing?"
He wondered why on Earth he had brought up his object of affection's boyfriend. She was bound to realise--
"We broke up, actually. Long while back. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it," she said, peering into a compartment. "Oy! Stop that!" she called, rapping her knuckled on the door. "I hate doing this," she said plainly. "Worst part of being a prefect."
"Oh, I hate it too," Remus said. "Makes me feel like a teacher or something." "Me too," Terri said, nodding. "Especially since we're all just as guilty of it."
Remus nodded. This was true.
Remus had been extremely worried about being able to string together a complete sentence in the presence of Terri, but it turned out he had nothing about which to worry. Once they had chosen something to talk about, the chatter didn't pause for half a second.
Eventually, they came to the compartment Terri would normally be in. They heard shouting and a familiar voice--that of Lily Evans.
"Ten Galleons James is in there and he's the subject of Lily's screaming," Remus said, glancing at Terri.
She met his gaze. "I wouldn't be half so stupid so as to bet against you on that one."
There was a pause in the screaming, and a male voice. Then the shrieks resumed, louder than before.
"...I think we can bypass this compartment, don't you?" Remus said quickly.
Terri nodded. "Nothing seems out of place."
"You got that right," Remus said dryly.
The only other compartment after that one they had any trouble with was one holding Layne Redding and Sirius Black, and they appeared busier than any other couple Terri and Remus had seen on the train.
"Break it up," Remus said, knowing full when they wouldn't stop, but hell, he had to try.
Sirius paused long enough to wink at Remus and Terri before he resumed. Terri and Remus exchanged a look, then hurried away from the scene.
"Well," Remus said, checking his watch, "It's been an hour."
Terri checked her watch as well. "Sure has. It's been fun, though. Didn't seem like an hour."
"Nope," Remus said, and he meant it. "See you at the feast, then?"
"Sure thing," Terri said, staring at him with her lovely grey-blue eyes. She turned to go.
"Sorry about Fabian," Remus called after her. Instantly he was berating himself as to why he had to bring him up again when the hour had gone so well.
Terri turned around and gave Remus a strange, calculating look. "Don't worry about it," she said finally, and with a final slight smile that was so characteristic of her, continued down the hall.
Remus had just survived an hour of chatting with Terri Swann, and there had been minimal embarrassment involved! Since he couldn't exactly do a victory dance in the middle of the narrow train corridor, he settled for letting a huge, dopey grin spread across his face. Sixth year was going just fine.
James, for his part, thought he was working splendidly at the whole courting thing; on the last day of fifth year he'd said hello to her and she hadn't cursed him, which had to count for something. However, Remus seemed to think otherwise.
"I've told you, James," he called over his shoulder as he walked down the aisle on the train, "You're going it about it all wrong."
"Forgive me if I don't take your advice as much as I should, Moony, but it's rather hard to believe you when you haven't had a girl in eight months," James snapped back. He was rather touchy when it came to courting Lily.
Remus didn't seem too abashed. "I know, but I still know what's best for you."
"Oh, Remus, you have no idea how much you sound like his mother," Sirius said, laughing and peering into a compartment. "Well, they're busy in there," he said lightly. "Come on, we should find one soon enough."
The next compartment contained only two people, but it didn't seem right to go in there. The infamous Marcus Dolby and the even more infamous Layne Redding were flinging curses at each other like there was no tomorrow. Layne and Marcus had been together their entire fifth year, and it was clear that their evident breakup had not been an easy one.
"I know what happened," Peter said. "I'll tell you when we find a compartment." The next compartment was empty, but none of the Marauders wanted to be in such close proximity to the obviously enraged Layne and Marcus, so they opted for the compartment after it, which was void of people.
"So," Sirius said as he settled down onto a seat, "What happened with those two, Peter?"
"Well," Peter said, visibly excited that there was information he had gotten to first, "Layne was dead tired of Marcus, but she didn't want to break up with him--don't ask me why; I haven't any idea. Marcus was getting tired of Layne himself so he started cheating on her this summer. Layne was cheating herself, and when they found out about each other's," Peter coughed, "Summer escapades, they started hexing each other like mad on the platform early this morning. Their friends had to drag them onto the train." Sirius nodded as he gazed out the window, appearing a bit dazed.
"Stunningly beautiful. Fiery. A reputation that precedes her, from which I can only assume she's an excellent kisser. Yeah, I think Layne Redding sounds about right for me."
Remus snorted. "The reputation that precedes her happens to be something along the lines of, 'Lost her virginity at age twelve, is a Ravenclaw but acts like a Slytherin, and almost flunked out of Potions when she called Professor Sifton a "hard-assed miserable old hag"'--to her face."
"Yeah, and she's loaded," Sirius said, smiling vaguely.
Remus buried his face in his hands. "Well, I suppose she's single now. I hope that makes you happy."
"Oh, it does," Sirius assured him. "I'd better talk to her sometime today and start the year off right."
"Talk?" James said, quirking an eyebrow. He highly doubted Sirius had talked with any girl he was after for more than five minutes.
"Well, at first!" Sirius said, pretending to look highly affronted. "I don't just jump into things. I am Sirius Black. Sirius Black has charm and class as well as a great body, esteemed snogging talent, money, and...other redeemable qualities."
Peter snorted.
"Well, I'm going to go see if Layne and Marcus are done yet. There's no time like the present, after all," Sirius said, winking. He left the compartment.
"I should go now, too, actually," Remus said, checking his watch. "Prefects have to patrol and everything...I should be back in an hour." Peter and James looked at each other. James knew what he wanted to do, but he also didn't want to leave Peter.
"Oh, go on," Peter said. "Don't worry; I've got a copy of The Quibbler which has an interesting story in it."
James laughed. "Wormtail, the Quibbler's absolute rubbish."
Peter shook his head. "No, this is real, I'm telling you. There's something called a Double-Headed-Wheemboggler, did you know? There aren't very many left in Europe, but there are a couple abroad in Norway and a few more in--"
James laughed, shaking his head. "I'll be back in a bit," he said, mussing his hair up unnecessarily.
"G'luck!" Peter called to James's retreating back.
James, having looked at Remus's prefect schedule for the train ride, had already memorized when Lily had to patrol, and it wasn't for another two hours. James figured he could chat her up for a few minutes, give her a few dazzling smiles, then snog her senseless. And with his witty humor and benign charm, who could resist?
Remus looked over his prefect schedule, trying to control his breathing. He was right outside the prefect compartment, steadying himself. This was the fourth time he'd double-checked the chart, and it had stayed the same all five times...would that be quinto-checking? It would make sense, seeing as it would be the fourth double-check wouldn't really be double-checking; it would be quinto-checking. But was the 'o' really necessary? Could it just be 'quint-checking.' The word somehow didn't flow as nicely without the 'o'.
"Remus?" Remus dropped his schedule. "With the 'o'!" he blurted.
The eyebrows of Terri Swann knitted together in confusion. "Sorry?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Remus had seen her do that in class so many times, he knew the exact angle relative to the floor that she did it.
"Er..." he said, trying not to blush. He didn't want to explain his 'quint' rambling. "Well, I was thinking about the spells I need to practice--I wasn't really getting the hang of a charm they taught us at the end of last year. Then I realized I wasn't saying one of the syllables with enough of the 'o' sound."
Terri nodded. A brief silence.
"So, are you going to get that or shall I?" she asked.
It was Remus's turn to be confused. "Huh?" he said.
She smiled slightly. Whenever she smiled slightly, the right side of her mouth turned up, not the left. In her larger smiles, both sides turned up evenly. Remus wondered why she favored her right side.
"Your schedule," she said, pointing to the floor.
"Oh!" he said, and bent down to pick it up. He took another glance at it--he supposed he was hex-checking it now. Or maybe hexo-checking. "So you're my patrol partner?" he asked. He wanted to make sure.
"Looks like it," she replied, smiling brightly. Remus breathed a sigh, half of relief that he wasn't imagining it and half of terror. What was he going to talk about it when he was patrolling for a whole hour with Terri Swann? Remus wasn't quite certain why he hadn't told his fellow Marauders about his infatuation with Terri Swann. Sure, they'd tease him a lot, but he'd told them about other girls he'd liked, and he'd been able to deal with the teasing then. There was just something inexplicably different about Terri that kept him back from telling anyone what he felt.
The real reason Remus hadn't had a girl in eight months was, in fact, Terri. He'd started liking her right before fifth year ended. However, she was involved with then sixth year Fabian Prewett, and Remus had hoped that over the long course of the summer he'd be able to get over her. He found, however, that not seeing her only made his feelings for her intensify.
Terri wasn't stunningly pretty, but she had a sort of mysterious air that surrounded her. She had light brown hair that traveled not too far past her shoulders. It had a bit of a natural wave, but Remus thought her most piercing feature was her eyes. They were grey-blue and had an astonishing intensity to them. Remus hardly ever looked her in the eyes for fear of staring too hard and too long into them. Her eyes displayed her personality--mostly fun and games, but also very shrewd and clever. She displayed some very authoritarian qualities, and Remus assumed that was why she was selected as a prefect. She never acted bossy or demanding, though. She just had a strange air about her that made people want to listen to what she said. She was a perfect Ravenclaw, he thought to himself.
"Shall we start, then?" Terri asked.
"I s'pose so," Remus said, trying to keep his voice as even as hers was. They started up the corridor, looking on the compartments. Remus had always hated patrolling the train; it was the most popular place for students to get cozy with each other because there were never any adults that walked around the train other than the witch who pushed the food cart. Remus hated breaking up couples; it was embarrassing not to mention stupid, seeing as anyone he knew above third year had at least made out within the walls of the one of these compartments. Still, it was his job.
"So..." Remus said, racking his brain for something to say. "How're you and Fabian doing?"
He wondered why on Earth he had brought up his object of affection's boyfriend. She was bound to realise--
"We broke up, actually. Long while back. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it," she said, peering into a compartment. "Oy! Stop that!" she called, rapping her knuckled on the door. "I hate doing this," she said plainly. "Worst part of being a prefect."
"Oh, I hate it too," Remus said. "Makes me feel like a teacher or something." "Me too," Terri said, nodding. "Especially since we're all just as guilty of it."
Remus nodded. This was true.
Remus had been extremely worried about being able to string together a complete sentence in the presence of Terri, but it turned out he had nothing about which to worry. Once they had chosen something to talk about, the chatter didn't pause for half a second.
Eventually, they came to the compartment Terri would normally be in. They heard shouting and a familiar voice--that of Lily Evans.
"Ten Galleons James is in there and he's the subject of Lily's screaming," Remus said, glancing at Terri.
She met his gaze. "I wouldn't be half so stupid so as to bet against you on that one."
There was a pause in the screaming, and a male voice. Then the shrieks resumed, louder than before.
"...I think we can bypass this compartment, don't you?" Remus said quickly.
Terri nodded. "Nothing seems out of place."
"You got that right," Remus said dryly.
The only other compartment after that one they had any trouble with was one holding Layne Redding and Sirius Black, and they appeared busier than any other couple Terri and Remus had seen on the train.
"Break it up," Remus said, knowing full when they wouldn't stop, but hell, he had to try.
Sirius paused long enough to wink at Remus and Terri before he resumed. Terri and Remus exchanged a look, then hurried away from the scene.
"Well," Remus said, checking his watch, "It's been an hour."
Terri checked her watch as well. "Sure has. It's been fun, though. Didn't seem like an hour."
"Nope," Remus said, and he meant it. "See you at the feast, then?"
"Sure thing," Terri said, staring at him with her lovely grey-blue eyes. She turned to go.
"Sorry about Fabian," Remus called after her. Instantly he was berating himself as to why he had to bring him up again when the hour had gone so well.
Terri turned around and gave Remus a strange, calculating look. "Don't worry about it," she said finally, and with a final slight smile that was so characteristic of her, continued down the hall.
Remus had just survived an hour of chatting with Terri Swann, and there had been minimal embarrassment involved! Since he couldn't exactly do a victory dance in the middle of the narrow train corridor, he settled for letting a huge, dopey grin spread across his face. Sixth year was going just fine.