The rest of the train ride went by uneventfully. Ariana grew quiet after half an hour of muttering and fell asleep on Remus while he read. James and Sirius went through the plan again, perfecting the prank. Peter continued to eat Chocolate Frogs and listen to James and Sirius, adding an addition or two to the plan, which was usually greeted with approval.
When the train arrived at the school, Remus woke Ariana and all five of them got off the train together and looked for a carriage to share.
"There's one over there," Sirius pointed and the group looked toward the mentioned carriage.
"It's not completely empty," Ariana noted, disappointed. "See? There's a redhead in there. We wouldn't all be able to fit."
James did a double take. "That's Lily! I'm going to go say hi!" He took off.
Remus sighed. "Who'll babysit him this time?"
"I might as well. I doubt Lily would want to be trapped with James and another one of you guys," Ariana replied.
"Hey! She'd love to be surrounded by manly men like James and I!" Sirius argued.
Ariana snorted as she went after James and called back, "You and James? Manly men? Hah!"
Sirius growled while Remus and Peter laughed.
Ariana jumped into Lily's carriage right before it started off toward the castle. James was on his knees and Lily looked deeply annoyed.
Ariana took a seat and told James to sit. "You don't want to upset the nice girl, now do you?"
James punched her on the arm and muttered as he got up, "Sirius is the dog, not me."
"Sorry about him, Lily. We let him off his leash for a minute and he runs away from us," she joked.
Lily glared at her. "Just keep him away from me. I have no idea how you can stand him."
"Practice." Ariana looked out the window, eager to see the castle where she went to school. "So, ready for the O.W.L.s?" she asked, trying to start a nice conversation.
"No," Lily replied, seeming a bit worried. "These tests determine what classes we take next year which determines our N.E.W.T.s which determines what jobs we get which determines the rest of out lives!" Lily had to stop to take a calming breath. "All extra time I end up withe will be spent studying."
"If you ever need a study buddy, just ask. I'm always free." Ariana kicked James and Lily glared at him.
"If it turns out I need a, as you put it, 'study buddy,' which I won't, I wouldn't ask you, Potter," she coldly replied. "I'd ask someone who actually has a brain and could study."
"Might want to check in with Remus then," Ariana said absentmindedly, still looking out the window. James glared at her but she continued, still not thinking. "Of course, then James would probably kill him. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Ooo! Look! There it is!" As Hogwarts came into view, the three of them looked out the windows to watch it approach.
As the carriage stopped, Lily quickly jumped out. James went to follow her but Ariana had grabbed hold of his arm.
"Let go!" he said, trying to jerk it out of her grasp. She counted to five quietly to give Lily a head start before she loosened her grip on James, allowing him to pull free. "Aw, now look! She's gone!"
"You really should leave her alone, mate. Stalking her won't win you points in her book," Ariana warned him as she looked for the others.
Suddenly someone tapped her shoulder, causing her to jump and turn around. Two red-haired boys stood behind her, both grinning.
"Gideon! Fabian! Don't do that! You're going to give me a heart-attack!"
"What's a—"
"Heart-attack?" The twins asked.
"It's sort of like when your heart stops all of a sudden. Happens to muggles a lot," she explained, walking into the school. "So how's your sister?"
"Molly?"
"She's fine."
"Her cooking is wonderful—"
"As always. We babysat—"
"A couple of times."
Ariana laughed at her sixth year friends. "Has she learned better than to leave her children alone with you yet?"
"Hey!"
"We are very trustworthy!"
Ariana snorted. "I'm just glad you're on our side of chaos-making." They parted when they reached the Gryffindor table as Ariana went to take a seat by the Marauders.
As she sat down next to Peter, she noticed James staring at Lily, Remus reading, Sirius trying to be a manly man, and Peter messing around with his silverware while waiting to eat.
"You guys are so boring without me," she said, stealing Peter's spoon.
"You are the light of our lives," Remus replied, not looking up.
"And don't you forget it!" Ariana put the spoons back to back and started to tap them, making noise. Peter quickly caught on, stole Sirius's and James's spoons, both of whom didn't notice, being too busy and all, and played along.
The noise snapped James out of his daydreaming. "What're you doing?" he asked, confused.
"We're starting a band!" Peter announced.
James grabbed two forks, stabbed Sirius, and tried to join in. "Ow, that hurt!" Sirius complained before taking in what his friends were doing. He watched for a while, amused, before grabbing two knives and banging them together.
Remus was ignoring them, still reading. "Come on, Remus!" Ariana told him. "You can sing!"
"No, thank you."
"Aw, don't be a spoilsport!"
"Someone has to."
"Come on! You have a lovely voice."
"No. Everyone's watching."
"Then entertain them!"
"I'm not going to."
"If you don't, Sirius and James will start to sing," she warned him.
Remus sighed and put his book down. "But I don't know of anything to sing!" he said, desperately still holding out.
"How about 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogryphs.'"
"That's a Christmas carol!"
"So?"
"Fine." Remus gave in and started singing while his friends kept up a rather badly done rhythm.
They received many strange looks from surrounding students, who grew quiet to listen. Pretty soon the whole Great Hall was listening, or at least silent. No one paid attention as the new first years entered and lined up in front of the Teachers' table. When the carol ended, everyone except the Slytherins clapped. Dumbledore then stood. "Thank you Marauders—"
"And me!" shouted Ariana, who wasn't officially a member of the boys' group.
"And Miss Noxum," Dumbledore continued as if uninterrupted. "For Christmas music a season early. Now we will move on as the winter season officially comes closer." Filch, a middle-age man who kept the school clean and got on the students' nerves, brought out a stool which held an old black wizard's hat and set it in front of the line of the little first years.
"I wasn't that short," Ariana muttered quietly, giving Peter his spoon back as the hat burst into song.
"No, you still are," Sirius joked, earning a glare from her. Remus shushed them so he could listen to the rest of the song without having to put up with annoying muttering. Ariana rolled her eyes but started quietly poking Peter instead of talking. This vexed Peter because he couldn't complain verbally, as that ran the risk of being scolded by Remus. He decided to poke Ariana back, starting a poke war. Sirius thought it looked like fun so he poked James, in hope of starting their own poke war. James, however, had gone back to staring at Lily after the carol had ended, ignoring everything else, including Sirius.
At long last the Sorting Hat's song finished, the first years were sorted, and Dumbledore made the necessary before-feast speech. This year it consisted of, "Goowaz, melin, arvayla!"
The food appeared and everyone started stuffing their faces. Ariana filled the first year's plate, who had unwisely taken the empty seat next to her, while piling things on her own. "Eat up. Best food ever." The small girl watched, too nervous to say anything but relieved enough to be obedient and eat what was put in front of her.
Sirius paused eating to smirk at Ariana. She noticed and asked, glancing suspiciously at him, "What?"
"You're mothering her," Sirius told her, completely casual except for the huge smirk on his face.
"I am not!" Ariana replied hotly, turning away from the first year, trying to convince Sirius that she wasn't mothering the little one.
"Liar." Sirius went back to eating.
"I'm not!" she exclaimed.
"Mhm." Sirius remained unconvinced as Ariana started to eat her own food.
A/N: Sorry that this took such a long time to get out. I wrote it ages ago and planned to post it weeks ago but then, all of a sudden, my life strangely became busy. Terribly sorry you had such a long wait. Please enjoy! Reviewing is always appreciated, by the way.