Chapter 2: The First Feast

"I miss the boats," Cressida muses, leaning against the side of the carriage. It's drawn by magic along the somewhat rocky road to the entrance of Hogwarts. The castle never changes, and the warm, fresh Autumn sky has left only a few clouds scattered around to cover the beauty of Scotland.

"I'll never forget it," Sirius agrees, leaning over her slightly to look out the carriage window. "Walking in for the first time." He laughs softly, moving further back into his seat. "All I was thinking was 'I don't care if they put me in Hufflepuff, just anything but Slytherin'."

"You say that like Hufflepuff is bad," Cressida snorts, also leaning back into her seat. "I like their common room. And it's the most chill house. Some Ravenclaws are more stuck up than the Snakes."

The grounds of Hogwarts grows closer, it's towering dark architecture a gothic beauty. A place all five of the carriage residents consider to be there home. Some more than others. The Common Room is the space that Cressida misses the most; the red lounges in front of the ever-burning fireplace, the seats underneath the window which is perfect for reading and the occasional explosion marks on the wall when a spell goes wrong. The only place Cressida can say with certainty that she doesn't miss is the herbology labs. Everything she has done in that class was wrong somehow.

That, and certain people.

It's bittersweet that they're growing closer to the end of their time there. This year would be their OWLs, then two years of NEWTs and then they'd be saying goodbye to the castle for the last time.

Dragging her eyes away from the long-awaited sight, Cressida grins at her closest companions. "So, our first job is Rabastan Lestrange," she calls, commanding their attention. "I'm thinking something that can't be directly faulted back to us. I'm trying to minimise detention this year."

Of course, when the school's infamous messers are your friends, you get dragged along. Though, dragged isn't the term Cressida would use. They hardly have to convince her to get involved. Besides, a letter to her parents isn't going to do much and they're not stupid enough to pull of anything that would get them expelled.

Sirius clicks his tongue against his teeth, stretching his arms across the top of the seat. "Our Cress is growing up, James. She doesn't even want to be caught."

"None of us wants to be caught," Remus intervenes, half-amused, half wondering if his friends do actually intend to be caught sometimes. "Besides, it's probably a smart idea that we tone it back down this year. If we do bad on our OWLs, we could ruin chances of what NEWT classes we could take."

James waves a hand in front of his face. "I have half a mind to agree with you, Remus. Besides, everyone will know it's us anyway. The teachers just won't be able to prove it." He leans forward on his seat opposite her, crooked glasses matching his unruly hair. "Any particular reason for this target?"

Huffing, Cressida leans further into the corner of the carriage chair. "Called me mudblood at the end of last year. It was on the train, so I didn't have time to do anything." The air of the carriage shifts, even the glint in James' eyes darkens. Sitting straighter, Cressida forces a blasé expression. "I don't care about it, but I don't want some of the younger students to be called that. And I don't doubt he's below calling a first year something that horrid."

"Piece of filth," Sirius mutters. "Why didn't you tell us then?"

Cressida shrugs nonchalantly. "As I said, we were on the train. I couldn't be bothered to do anything at the time."

"Still should have told us," James counters. "Could have given me all summer to think of something good." He trails off, looking out the same window she was earlier, sinking into thought.

"We could use the obliviate charm on him," Peter suggests.

All eyes turn to him, in a little bit of shock. "Merlin, Peter," Sirius whispers. "I'm not against it, but I didn't expect that suggestion."

"Has anybody used it before?" James questions everybody in the carriage.

"James," Cressida half-hisses. "That's a bit much. First, we would need to be in close proximity which would increase our risk of being caught and if it went wrong, we'd get more than detention."

James sits forward again with a raised brow. "He called you 'the word we don't say'. He deserves more than forgetting his entire life. Lowlife scum." He spits the words. Cressida can't blame him. The word his horrid, not to mention that Lily Evans is muggle-born like herself, so James would take it personally against her too. "But it's up to you. Whatever you want, Cress."

"Well," Cressida smiles, folding her hands over her cloaked lap. "I was looking at some charm books over the holiday-"

"Of course," Remus smirks wolfishly.

Giving him a quick straight-faced expression, Cressida opens her mouth to continue, only to be cut off by Sirius. "Honestly it's disgusting how much money you spend on charm books."

"No, no," James hushes. "Let her. It's where we get all our charm knowledge from."

"Thank you," Cressida finally fits in. "Someone at least appreciates my efforts and contribution to this group."

Xx

Cressida watches in disgust as James, who is sitting directly opposite her, stuffs his mouth with whatever food his hands lay upon. His knife and fork lay untouched on the dark-wooded table. Her top lip is pulled to her nose, eyeing off the grease on his fingers from the fried chicken between them as he converses avidly with Remus about OWLs. It might be a surprise to some that he's actually taking this year half-seriously, but those who bother to know him past reputation find nothing out of the ordinary at his engagement.

"Oi." Cressida's ribcage is nudged lightly, drawing her eyes away to the person on her left instead. Sirius is no doubt talking to her, but his eyes are pointed over her head to someone behind her at the table. "You're close with McKinnon, aren't you?"

Shrugging, Cress goes back to eating her own food. "Close isn't the word I would use, but she doesn't scowl when we talk."

Sirius also shrugs, eyes drifting back down to hers with a half-drawn smile. "You think I could ask her out this year?"

Cressida considers his question, glimpsing over her own shoulder. Marlene, the blonde beauty, sits with Mary and Lily, laughing wildly at something said. "I mean, there's nothing stopping you, but you should figure out your priorities first."

"What do you mean?"

Cress shrugs again, placing her fork down. "I just mean, we have a lot going on this year. I think you should actually try at your OWLs, there's us, Quidditch practice, and our other activities." Her lips press tightly at the end, watching his reaction. Sirius Black is a handsome man, and if it weren't for his reputation, he could have many women. Though, some really don't care about that. To the pureblood fanatics, he's a blood-traitor, to many others, he's a no-good troublemaker known for his impatience and brash attitude to life. Their whole group falls under that umbrella to some.

"I feel like I'm talking to Remus," he muses, giving no indication of whether he agrees with her words or not.

Smiling half-heartedly, Cressida replies, "I figure that he's got the best chance of graduating out of all of us. But with all that said, ask her out if you want to. James will be jealous if you spend time with her, but he'll get over it once he sees Lily again."

"James is jealous when any of us aren't around," Sirius chuckles quietly so the said-boy cannot hear them talk. Cressida joins in, muffling the sound with another bite of a sweet potato. "And I think I will ask her out. But I'll wait till Hogsmeade visits are running. I'll see how she likes shopping in Zonkos."

"You can't be upset when she drags you into Madam Hopfrey's Purses and Bags then." That earns a long-drawn groan, the boy's head falling onto his fist at the thought of browsing feminine accessories. Cressida only smiles unsympathetically, sipping from her goblet. "And that's just on the first date. If you were a couple, you might have to buy her things from there." Cressida chuckles to herself as another groan sounds louder than the first. "And please don't take her to Zonko's on the first date. It's not exactly a romantic place."

"But it's one of my favourites," he counters. "I want to see if she would at least take some interest in that stuff."

"I think you allocating pranking much too high on your personal identity."

Sirius blinks, tipping his head to the side with a hesitant laugh. "I didn't understand a word of that."

Cressida laughs to herself, turning further into the chair to face him. "I just mean, after school, I don't think that pranking third years is going to be something important to you."

He doesn't answer her directly, eyes lifting back over her shoulder in contemplation. Eventually, he turns back to his meal. "You're taking Care of Magical Creatures with me, right?"

"That I am. James and Peter are slugging off in Divination and Remus is taking Arithmancy."

Sirius clicks his tongue after taking a quick sip of his pumpkin juice. "What. A. Nerd," he announces in a volume loud enough to attract the ears of their sandy-haired friend. Remus raises his brows, the side of his lips drawing upwards. "Going to ditch us for the library again this year?"

Remus quickly rebuttals. "Because I want to get something above a Dreadful."

For the interest of the light-hearted banter, Cressida adds, "Actually, Sirius got an A in Charms last year." She refrains from adding that Sirius and herself had spent nights in the library studying since he desperately requested her help. But despite that, while not as academically studious as Remus, Sirius also does relatively well in class, though his efforts lay mostly in Quidditch and DADA.

"See?" Sirius agrees. "I'm a marvellous student. McGonagall loves me."

Xx

"Where did James go off to?" Cressida wonders aloud, looking over their shoulders for the boy with glasses framing his face. The year's first feast came to a conclusion soon after the first years were led away by their prefects, letting them settle into the Common Rooms without the bustle of the upper years to overwhelm them. Of course, one of their prefects is Evans herself, newly appointed and very proud of the fact.

"Said he'd catch up," Peter offers. "Went down that corridor back there."

Cressida slows down, the remaining three continuing on without her with only a small glance over their shoulders to note what she is up to. Waving them off, Cress wanders back down to the corridor, peeking around the edge. Sure enough, James is there, towering over two first years. Initially she wonders what mischief that her friend is up to, but he looks to be simply talking with them before pointing to the other end of the corridor then left. The two first years glancing at each other before mumbling a thanks and setting off.

As they leave, Cressida saunters up to James who grins at her arrival. "What are you up to?"

"Just helping them catch up with their house," he answers quickly.

"Ravenclaws?" she assumes, noting that that Ravenclaw Common Room is just near where James directed. "They can't be that smart if they lost their way already. All they had to do is keep walking."

"Snarky," James notes. "But they're Slytherins."

His lips tilt upwards slowly as Cressida's own expression changes to mild amusement. James certainly didn't show them the right way. "You're cruel," she chuckles. "They're just first years, James. At least give them a chance before you do things like this."

He only rolls his eyes light-heartedly. "Whatever."

Sighing in resignation, Cressida takes a few steps further down the corridor, calling out to the two first years just near the end. "Hey!" They turn around, a little hesitant at the brazen tone. "You're going the wrong way!"

The pair look at each other, clearly confused at what instruction to follow. Cressida marches up closer to them, James trailing along simply so he's not left alone.

"Slytherins?" she questions, just to confirm. The pair nod silently. "Your Common Room is in the dungeons. Go back to the main staircase, keep going down until you reach the first floor. Wander around for a while and you'll either find another Slytherin or you'll see the entrance to the dungeon area. From there, you're on your own."

They stare up at her, then to James behind her. He cocks his toe in the ground over his other foot, lazily resting an arm over her shoulder. "You should listen to her. Or not. It's up to you."

The first years have no idea who to believe, but perhaps it's the fact that she's a woman that they believe her over James. And she probably gave better instructions. But they run off the way they came, back towards the grand staircase.

Cressida glares playfully at the grinning face of her friend. "Stop being mean to first years. Once they hit second then go for it."

"Nice to see where you draw the line."