Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine.
Chapter 4: Train Hijinxs Continue
Lily tried to resist the falling asleep sensation but she could feel it stealing over her. Her eyes would start to flutter closed and her head would get heavy, but then the train would hit another bump and she'd jerk back awake. One would imagine that a magical train would not be quite so bumpy and would maybe go much faster so as not to take several hours to get to school. Maybe then her new friends would not be fast asleep. Lucy was leaning against the window, pink cheek plastered against the chilly window and little feet tucked up underneath her robes. Kate had finally succumbed to sleep as well, leaning heavily against Lily's shoulder, making Lily quite uncomfortable. Across the way Remus was still reading silently, honey colored eyes scanning quickly and one long thin finger reaching out to turn the page. Occasionally he would lick his finger, you know, to separate those bothersome stuck-together pages, and Lily found this completely adorable. For quite a while she tried to look elsewhere, but he was sitting right across from her and she really had nowhere else to look. For the last hour she had been flat out watching him, a look of charming curiosity across her face (in case he should look up, she wanted to look intelligent and charming), but he had not so much as looked up at her once, even though she was wearing her most flattering navy blue pin striped blouse and her hair was actually cooperating. Lily gave a little sigh.
On the floor, Harry echoed her. His legs were starting to go numb. There was really very little space on the floor, and though they probably could have just sat on the seats "through" Lily and her friends, the idea was too strange to them. So there they were, sitting, bored on the floor, waiting for something to happen. Ginny had actually dozed off too, head on Harry's shoulder.
"This is bloody boring mate," Ron whispered, "no offense."
"There's no need to whisper, Ron, they can't hear us," Hermione said. Well, actually she whispered it too, though she wasn't sure why. She supposed the quietness of the compartment just called for a whisper.
"I know," Harry mumbled, "I was expecting a little more excitement. I hope there aren't too many other memories like this. It'll take me years to get through them all. Plus, I'm certainly not learning anything about defeating Voldemort from this." Ron and Hermione nodded their agreement.
Little did they know, Lily was certainly planning some excitement. First she thought about just leaping across the compartment, landing in Remus' lap, and showering him with kisses. She certainly was a wanton little eleven year old. Then she realized that she had never really kissed a boy and didn't know how to go about doing it. Plus, Kate was sleeping quite heavily on her and it would certainly ruin everything if she had to throw her off before leaping into Remus' lap. Plus, he actually seemed to be enjoying the book a lot. Now, for instance, a slight smile was curling up the edge of his lips. She tried to see what he was reading. Something about nocturnal animals? How strange, she thought, that's not the book I was assigned for that magical animal class. Too bad she knew next to nothing about nocturnal animals so she couldn't even strike up a lively conversation with him. What is with wizards and nocturnal animals? Lily thought to herself. The bloke in the Menagerie kept trying to get her to buy an owl, though she couldn't see why. She had finally convinced him that she actually wanted that sweet little orange kitten in the window, only to find out there was something terribly wrong with it when she got it home. Namely, it was a monster. The next day she went back to explain that her kitten was defective and the boy in the shop said something about getting a sneezle and how lucky she was and then shoved her out the door. She wasn't sure what a sneezle or weezle or neezle or whatever it was called was, but she was a little horrified. Wizards sure were brave cat owners. Granted the cat had been perfect the whole trip so far, but Lily just considered that a fluke.
Across the way Remus lowered the book to his lap and stretched, raising his arms above his head and Lily's mind jumped back to the matter at hand: Remus. His eyes locked on hers with an amused little smile and she could feel her cheeks starting to flame up. Damn red hair, always blushing at all the wrong times, she thought to herself, Well, do something! At least quit staring Lily! Say something! Anything! No not anything! Something charming and irresistible. Nothing charming or irresistible came into her head, but she did swallow. That was at least a start. Maybe later she would even breathe. He would certainly be impressed with that. Remus' amused smile widened. Suddenly a knock, knock, knock sounded at their glass door. Lily looked up at the two boys from earlier, what were there names? Oh yes, James and Sirius, though she couldn't remember which was which. Before she could reach over to open the door (because she had to shift Kate off of her and because she was still in slow motion from her near romantic encounter with Remus) the knocking turned into pounding (and even a little kicking) by the other boy-the one with the puppy dog eyes. After disentangling herself from Kate, who was groggily awakening, she stood up and slid the door back.
"A little impatient, aren't we?" She asked with a cheeky grin, hands on hips. She could have sworn the boy with the messed up hair got a dreamy little look in his eyes. Lily tried not to giggle, she loved having that effect on boys. If only Remus had been so easy.
"Patience was never something they understood, Lily. Don't waste your time," Kate said with a yawn, trying to give her most evil, albeit sleepiest, look. Much to her chagrin, the boys were undeterred.
"How come he's allowed in here when you wouldn't let us in?" The puppy eyed, Sirius? asked, elbowing his way inside. James followed, the dreamy look having passed from his face. Remus looked up in surprise. He really did not want to be dragged into this. Kate was just about to retort when Lily saved her the trouble.
"Maybe because Remus is not an arrogant, stuck-up, buffoon like you two obviously are!" Lily replied angrily. Sirius and James looked at her in surprise. Kate really couldn't have looked happier. So the girl has some fight in her after all, Kate thought happily. Even Harry was laughing from his position on the floor. He didn't mind if his mum gave his dad a hard time now since he knew they'd fall in love eventually.
"How do you know we're arrogant stuck-up buffoons? We don't even know you," James, yes she was fairly certain that one was James, replied.
"And how do you know he's so great anyways?" Sirius piped up. It was a bizarre sensation for Remus to be talked about like this when he was sitting right there, but he was curious as to what else Lily was going to say about him.
"Just…because…I do!" Lily said, stomping her foot a bit. Ok, that was not so great Lily, she thought to herself. She really needed to stop referring to herself in the third person while she was talking to herself in her head. Oh man, she was going nuts. Remus, seeing that she was getting flustered, stood up.
"Actually this is all my fault," he began, intending to explain about that boy-Peter- who he'd been sharing a compartment with until the snoring began. Sirius stopped him though.
"Sit back down lad," Sirius said, clapping on a hand to Remus' shoulder, "we're men, it's never our fault," he announced triumphantly. Remus gave him a peculiar look.
"Actually, mate, I think it's 'we're men so it's always our fault.' At least that's what my mum says," James said. Sirius looked crestfallen.
"Bloody hell, you're right." James and Remus, looking a little resigned, collapsed onto the bench seat behind them. Sirius shot a look at Kate and Lily (who had returned to her own seat) to see if they were going to demand that James get up and leave. To his surprise, it seemed as though they were slightly amused by the scene that had just unfolded. Feeling it was safe, he pushed James over a little.
"Budge up, mate, I need somewhere to sit too," Sirius said, though there was plenty of room on Lily and Kate's side. Apparently he was not that brave. Sirius wiggled into the tiny space next to James, jostling the still sleeping Lucy as he did so.
"Remussss," she moaned, obviously thinking he was the one pushing her. Sirius leaned over to give Remus an approving look.
"Already got 'em moaning your name in their sleep, eh mate? 'Atta boy," Sirius grinned. Remus blushed and Kate and Lily stifled fresh giggles.
"Erm, she's my cousin," Remus admitted bashfully.
"Bloody hell, where do you come from?" James shrieked, sounding disgusted. Lily and Kate could not hold the laughter in any longer, but after a moment Lily felt the need to rescue Remus, seeing as how James and Sirius were still confused.
"Yes, they are cousins. But she wasn't moaning his name like that. She was just groaning because she assumed it was Remus shoving her about like that because she probably had no idea that our compartment had been invaded by two annoying prats. Isn't that right Lu?" Lily asked, seeing that their little blonde companion had sat up and was rubbing the sleep from her crystal blue eyes. Lucy nodded, though she had no idea what was going on. All she knew was that she was sitting unusually close to one of those adorable boys from earlier. She tried to bat her eyelashes but she was still sleepy and it just came out as two slow blinks. It didn't matter though, it was still adorable. Lily envied Lucy's grace under fire.
"So she's your cousin then? Just a cousin?" Sirius asked Remus, though his eyes never left Lucy. "I guess there's only one thing to do then." He took hold of one her little hands and raised it to his lips. "Ah mon cherie, ich bin Sirius, Sirius Black. Mucho gusto." He tried to sound suave and sophisticated with his array of foreign languages, but it just sounded silly as he mispronounced everything, including his own name.
"I'm Lucy Lupin," she responded, "and I only know English," she added with a sweet grin. Kate and Lily giggled a little.
"Yuck, this is disgusting. Come on Sirius, we're going now before someone starts kissing someone," James said with a shudder. He couldn't help it, but his glance landed on Lily right as he said the word "kissed" and she'd given him a saucy little wink. Holy Merlin he had to get out of there right away! He grabbed Sirius' arm and pulled him out the door. Before going though he looked back.
"Come on Remus, you're coming right?" Remus looked up in surprise. He was being invited somewhere? This had never really happened before. His parents had always been rather protective of him, due to his condition. But now they weren't there to hold him back. What a lovely feeling.
"You're free to stay here too you know," Lily mumbled, pretending to be preoccupied with her fingernails. He raised an eye at her and looked back at James and Sirius who were waiting. Sure, she did have the prettiest green eyes he'd ever seen but he was only eleven and when you're eleven and a boy, friends are more important than girlfriends. He reached over and ruffled Lucy's hair,
"I'll see ya later, ok?" She nodded and gave him a parting wave. The door slid shut behind the boys and all three girls sighed. They looked at each other with surprise. Kate was the first to speak.
"Well that was fun," she said. The other girls looked at her in shock and then they all dissolved into laughter. On the floor, Harry was sighing as well. Yes, he was certainly glad that his mother was having a good time, but more than anything he wished he could have followed his father.
A/N: Well, I hoped to get to the Sorting in this chapter but I just feel like this is a good stopping point. I had a great amount of fun with this chapter. How adorable are those little Marauders? Eeek, I just love them. Too bad they aren't real Ok well, as always please please please read and review, especially if you have suggestions as to what might make this more interesting/enjoyable. This is my first MWPP fic so I'd love any help I can get! Thanks!