Potter's Army

The messy haired boy, though no-one that looked at him now could honestly call him a boy, took a step into our booth.

I watched frozen as he took the staring boy's cap off and mussed his hair roughly, much like one would a small child.

"Alright Pete," he said with a lazy grin, shoving the cap into his chest.

'Pete' clutched at it and simpered back at him with painful admiration.

Wait a second. Pete? As in Peter? As in Pettigrew?

I looked back at the strange boy I had originally shared the booth with and wondered at how dimwitted I had been. Suddenly it all clicked into place.

As the wind-swept newcomer took another step in and surveyed our little compartment, I tried my best to become invisible, avoiding all tell-tale eye contact despite desperately wanting to stare into the new faces of my old tormentors.

I was officially trapped. Stuck on the frontline of a Marauder invasion with James Potter leading his troops.

It was while he peered around with the same air of arrogance I remembered so clearly that I noticed his eyes draw quickly back, and I felt my heart give an unpleasant leap in response.

But for now I was safe. His eyes it seemed were fixed directly on Lily.

Still with her back to him and her gaze focused on me, it was only then that I noticed her expression. She looked almost as dismayed as I felt.

"Lily flower!" James boomed, his grin large and white. "What a pleasant surprise."

Visibly cringing from it, Lily turned to face him with a grimace.

"Shame I can't say the same about seeing you," she muttered scathingly, moving to step past him in order to leave.

But James took a split second side step, blocking her path. Cocking his head to the side, he dared her with a smirk to try it again, almost as if it was a game.

Seemingly disgusted by his close proximity, Lily took a step back from him, unsmilingly. "Get out of my way, Potter," she ordered.

"Come, come now, Evans," James shook his head, "there's really no need to be like that. You know if you just give me a chance I-"

"In your own time, Prongs," another recognisable male voice drawled, interrupting him before he could continue making an arse of himself.

The face attached to it was frustratingly obscured from view, but a cloaked arm reached out and pushed James sideways, removing his blockage of the doorway.

Potter cried out as he stumbled, nearly falling back onto the luckily empty seat. When he'd righted his footing, he shoved the other boy further back into the corridor playfully.

"Not in front of the Evans," he murmured through gritted teeth.

There was a grumbling of yet another boy's voice as the first one must have staggered back into him.

With no room to leave now, Lily seemed to accept her fate, moving to take the seat next to me and sandwiching me between herself and the window.

As soon as he saw her settle in, Potter gave a satisfied smirk and plopped himself down next to her.

Giving a audible 'tut', Lily edged closer to me away from him.

Watching his behaviour around her and the way he continued to edge nearer, I couldn't help but think I had missed more than just lessons while I was away for fifth year.

In fact, if he got any closer to her he would be in her lap.

With Potter now out of the way, it was as if time was moving in slow motion as the latest addition made his way into our compartment.

It was like watching an advert for men's hair care as he ran a careless hand back through his perfect dark hair.

My stomach flipped uncomfortably. It was disappointing to find Sirius Black hadn't really changed that much.

Despite my undeniable hatred for him, even I had to admit his good looks were absurd. It was just a pity they reflected nothing good on the inside.

Black didn't deserve to be so attractive. He was just an empty shell, full of scorn and hatred.

He had been the worst of the lot, his quick wit making his comments all the more scathing.

The memories of them were permanently ingrained into my subconscious. Like watching my own personal Pensieve, whether I wanted to or not.

Like the time in third year during Professor Binn's Monday morning lesson; the kind of lesson that had the ability to numb even the most eager of brains within the first ten minutes.

After around half an hour Black had obviously decided things needed livening up, which may sound very public-serving until you hear just how he decided go about this.

After muttering a quiet incantation, thick dark hair had started to sprout out from the quiet girl's nose and ears, without her even suspecting a thing.

Unfortunately for me, I was that girl.

After the hundredth weird look as I made my way to dinner I remember rushing to the bathroom to find out what was going on and nearly being in tears when I realised what he'd done.

Of course it was Black, it was always Black. As if I wasn't unpopular enough.

The three girls I'd called my friends had insisted on confronting him about it, even though I had practically begged them not to. I knew it would just make it worse if they tried to stick up for me.

But apparently they felt it was their 'duty', and nothing at all to do with wanting to talk to the attractive, popular boys.

While outwardly I'd refused to go with them, I still hadn't been able to resist listening in from behind a corner.

Ever heard the saying 'eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves'? Well I found that out the hard way that day.

Black had not only been entirely unrepentant, he'd actually found it highly amusing I'd only just realised and had been walking around looking like the hirsute gameskeeper all day.

He'd said he didn't think I would mind much since it was impossible to look any worse than I already did.

Looking back I'd no idea why he hated me so much. It's not like I'd ever done anything to him.

At the very least, Snape was an out and proud Slytherin.

But with me, all I'd done was exist.

I stared at the attractive young man he had turned into. Despite all of his good looks all I could feel for him was disdain.

But my look of loathing was interrupted when his steel grey eyes met mine unexpectedly.

Forcing my face to the train window and chastising myself for being so openly reckless, I found myself praying to God, Merlin and every other spiritual entity that he hadn't recognised who I was.

Staring hard into the large pane of glass, I held my breath as I saw his reflection move closer towards me, promising over and over that I would be ready when the comments started. I would not take his abuse lying down anymore.

Finally his journey into the carriage stopped when he sat down in the seat directly opposite.

His gaze met mine in our reflected faces.

My eyes darted away quickly, but somehow ended up landing on his actual face.

When they did I was surprised to find there was a strange expression on it.

I had never seen him look at me like that before.

Slowly, but surely, the corner of his mouth turned upward into what was undeniably a smile.

Black was smiling at me.

Safe to say I had absolutely no idea how to react. It would have been quite charming if it had actually been genuine and had come from any other boy apart from Black, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of seeing me smile back at him before he instigated one of his cruel jokes. I was just glad he couldn't hear my madly thumping pulse.

The more subdued entrance of the sandy haired boy I recognised as Remus Lupin gave me a good excuse to look away from him, keeping my face as expressionless as possible.

Lupin had always been the quietest of them all, never openly joining in with their tormenting. But that didn't make me feel any better towards him. In fact, I had always been disgusted by the spineless way he had let them carry on without ever telling them to stop.

If he recognised me now then he didn't show it, barely meeting my eye before sitting down between Black and Pettigrew.

"Get off me," Lily's angry voice came at my side.

I turned just in time to see her shake off Potter's casual arm around her shoulders, acting as though they'd been dating months.

"Touch me again and I'll do something you'll regret," she warned, grabbing his forearm and pushing it away from her.

Potter put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. Merlin, you can be touchy."

Doing my best to pull back from Black's legs brushing against mine with every tiny swaying movement of the carriage, I put my focus on the blur of trees and fields passing us by outside.

This was going to be a long journey.

.o.

Finally, finally, there was the definite sign of the train slowing down.

Readying myself to go as soon as it came to a halt so I could leave them all behind me, I sprung to my feet as soon as the movement stopped. Unfortunately for me, Black chose that moment to do exactly the same thing.

With the front of our bodies colliding in the centre of the compartment, I found myself almost knocked backwards.

Thankfully I just about managed to throw out an outstretched arm against the back of my chair before completely collapsing on my backside.

When I pushed myself back into a standing position, I was surprised to find him chivalrously gesture for me to go first.

Was this the cruel joke? Would he push me back down as soon as I tried to get past?

Eyeing him warily, I eventually decided to just go for it, doubting even he'd have the nerve to try anything with Lily the Prefect around.

He was probably just trying to psyche me out and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing it work.

And so, without so much as a thank you or even a glance in his direction I trampled past him silently.

"See you later, Lily!" I called as an after thought as I exited the room.

I had to get off that train and as far away from those four boys as I could.

The next chapter is Cheryl's first lesson, and she gets paired up with a certain someone. Four guesses who it will be.