"Oi, Sirius!" called a voice as Netra and Black were picking out their new Defence textbooks.

Honestly, who yells in a bookshop?

Netra and Black turned around, finding James Potter walking towards them, waving his arms obnoxiously.

Right. James Potter, that's who.

"Sirius!" Potter grinned. "And... Mitran?"

"Nice to see you too, Potter," Netra said sarcastically, holding her copies of Advanced Defensive Magic and Offensive Magic: Your Greatest Defence along with her new Potions, Transfiguration and Herbology textbooks.

Potter ignored her, "Why're you with her?"

"She's not bad, y'know," Black said, looking uncomfortable.

"We're engaged as of four-ish hours ago; I didn't make Gryffindor Prefect and my parents are throwing a fit," Netra said blandly. "Black, I'll look for my other textbooks, we can plot another time."

"WHAT? YOU'RE ENGAGED?!" Potter shrieked as she walked away.

"For Merlin's sake, stop yelling in a bloody bookshop, the entire Wizarding World doesn't need to know!" Netra exclaimed, looking over her shoulder and slamming right into someone as a result, her books clattering onto the floor.

Scowling, Netra crouched down and picked up her books.

"Shit! Sorry," the person apologized, bending down to help her.

She looked at him, recognizing the person as one Remus Lupin. "It's fine," she said curtly. "It's my fault for turning so abruptly, anyway."

Am I crashing a Marauders reunion or something? We just need Pettigrew, now.

✧༺ ༻∞

An hour later found Netra sitting at Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour with the Marauders, her school supplies in the same handbag she had used to transport her keyboard. Apparently the Marauders had, in fact, planned to meet today. Sirius finding out about their engagement—and subsequently telling Netra—was just an unfortunate coincidence, leading to the five of them having a plotting session with some ice cream.

"Hi, Mr Fortescue!" Netra exclaimed happily, having been to this particular store long enough to know him. It helped that his daughter, Pandora Fortescue, was a close-ish friend of hers.

"Ah, Netra, it's nice to see you here again," Mr Fortescue smiled. "Two scoops of Chocolate Hazelnut in a waffle cone?" he asked, naming Netra's regular order.

"Yep," Netra nodded. "I'll also be getting two Butterbeers—both also in waffle cones—Earl Grey with Lavender in a glass, and a Hot Fudge Sundae."

"For the lads with you?"

"Mhm."

"Right, that'll be one galleon and ten sickles. I'll bring it over to you."

Netra nodded, handing over the money that the Marauders had given her to cover their order.

"Honestly, sending the girl to pay..." she could hear him mumble as she walked back to their table. "Is chivalry not a Gryffindor trait?"

She stifled a laugh as she took her seat between Potter and Black.

"What?" Black asked.

"Mr Fortescue's questioning the chivalry of Gryffindors these days," Netra sniggered.

"He has a point," Lupin said from across the table. "We did make the girl go order and pay."

I honestly don't see the issue with that, but men will always have their overinflated sense of superiority.

Netra sighed, "I don't particularly care either way—he's just being old-fashioned. Just like how this awful set-up between me and Black is! Merlin, if I tell Preethi, she'll freak..."

Potter raised an eyebrow, "You didn't tell the Patils yet?"

"I literally found out today," Netra said, licking the ice cream that Mr Fortescue handed her.

It was delicious, as always.

"Never mind that, we need to figure out some way to get them out of this," Lupin said impatiently, giving Mr Fortescue a small smile as he took his Hot Fudge Sundae.

"Did the contract magically bind them?" Pettigrew piped up nervously, speaking for the first time that day.

Netra hummed thoughtfully, turning to Black, who shrugged his shoulders.

Amma and Appa always leave room for movement in agreements...

"Probably not," Netra decided. "My parents don't commit to anything unless they absolutely have to, and from what Black's said, it seems as though his family was desperate enough that they'd take the shittiest marriage contract in the world if they had to."

"In that case, one of you could always run away to my house," Potter said. "My parents love you, Sirius, and my mum's always wanted a girl, Mitran."

Netra blinked, stunned, "You barely know me, Potter."

"You're a decent person in a shitty situation," Potter responded, sounding confused that she was confused.

Netra furrowed her eyebrows sharing a look with Lupin, who shrugged.

This is the same person that bullies Lily's precious Sev? Although Snape isn't the greatest person in the world.

"...Thanks?"

"Let's keep the running away idea for a worst-case scenario," Sirius said, biting into his Butterbeer ice cream, much to Netra's disgust. "As much as I hate my parents, I don't want to worry Mr and Mrs Potter unless I have to."

The five of them sat in thoughtful silence for a moment, the only sounds being the slurping of ice cream.

"We could try convincing Dumbledore to give you the prefect badge," Black said, sounding unsure. "Maybe if we explain the situation, he'll do it."

Instantly, Netra shook her head. "I'm almost a hundred percent sure that Lily's the one that got it, and rightfully so. I don't want to take that away from her, especially since it'll look like 'the entitled pureblood, stealing away a poor muggleborn's accomplishment.' I'm sure Dumbledore wouldn't even agree, anyway."

"We could make a copy of my badge and mail it to you saying that there was a mix-up," Lupin suggested.

They debated this idea for a bit, but Pettigrew spotted a flaw. "We won't be able to mimic the Hogwarts seal in the letter."

"Fuck, you're right, Pete," Potter groaned.

It was two hours of constant suggestions and shut-downs. No one was able to think of an idea that had a decent chance of working, but for The Marauders, this was a matter of pride. They were the pranking kings, masters of outsmarting authority, and now that one of their own had an issue, they had to fix it. They would not stand back and allow one of their brothers to be married off to a person that they did not want—it was only a plus that the feeling was mutual on both ends.

And so, an hour and three rounds of ice cream later, there was a feasible solution, proposed by the brains behind all The Marauders' best pranks. "We could try to convince the Mitrans to marry Netra to Regulus."

Netra's first instinct was to object. Sirius or Regulus—it didn't matter, she was still being married off like some prize to be won! That wouldn't help her situation at all... but it would help Sirius'! For the first time she understood why The Marauders were seemingly so nice to her. It was Black they really cared about, and that was understandable. And maybe, just maybe, she would be able to get herself out of marrying Regulus.

There was no doubt that Sirius, or maybe that blood-traitor cousin of his, would one day stain the Black name to the point that no self-respecting pureblood supremacist would want to associate themselves with it. Her real crush? He was too smart and had a better sense of self-preservation than Sirius. His family was respectable, and if Sirius and Andromeda sullied the Black name enough... Her plan was riding on a whole load of ifs but they were realistic ifs. Sirius was... pitiable. And without his group of friends, she wouldn't have even gotten a plan this decent, anyways.

She could make this work.

"I don't think that would—" Sirius spoke up hesitantly, Netra's silence making him uncomfortable.

"It's fine," Netra said, cutting him off. "It's not half-bad an idea, and this way at least one of us will get out of this mess. I've pretended to buy into that pureblood shit all my life, I can make this work."

I have to make this work.