Ch 4: how to make friends and alienate people
The thing about meeting the three other Gryffindors in person is that they were exactly like she'd always expected they were. After five years of schooling with them, they'd all managed to draw a fair amount of attention to themselves. Well, James and Sirius had managed to draw a fair amount of attention to them all. Plus, she'd heard her dorm mates up late gossiping about how cute one or the other of the pair was for the better part of her schooling. They accepted her without question after a quick introduction and odd look from Sirius, and she found she was actually enjoying her time in the noisy and boisterous compartment. James was as bold and cocky as he'd always seemed, Remus was as sensible and shy as she'd guessed before he left for the prefect's meeting of course, and Peter was… there. Honestly, her heart went out to the pudgy, odd one out of the group. You could see how much he loved being part of the 'cool kids' or whatever you wanted to call them, and how desperate he was to be reaffirmed as part of the group as often as possible. For their part, the other boys were far more caring than she'd anticipated in terms of Peter. They made sure he was in on every joke and part of every conversation, a courtesy that seemed mostly extended to her as well. It was nearly enough to make her think Sirius had somehow warned them to be nice, she thought, stealing a glance at the handsome boy next to her. Although, she kept noticing the curious way they regarded her, surely wondering how on earth such a shy little thing had caught the great Sirius Black's attention.
"I met him in Diagon Alley," she finally clarified, unprompted, and received three curious stares for her trouble. Positive she was blushing deep enough for it to be noticeable, she barreled on, "Sirius, I mean, that's why I'm here. I ran into him in Diagon Alley."
"I think it'd be more accurate to say I ran into you," Sirius cut in, graciously drawing their eyes from her, "Reg and I were racing, I lost him in the crowd, and when I caught up, he was conversing with this lovely lady."
"Your hair's gone all pink!" Peter exclaimed, pointing out what was now extremely obvious.
"Yeah, it does that from time to time," she murmured, staring down at her hands and waiting for the insults and teasing to start.
"You're a metamorphagus," they all looked up to find Remus, back from the meeting, standing in the doorway and looking a bit astonished, "Also Peter, I don't think it's very polite to point out such things like that."
"Sorry," Peter apologized mulishly, "I just never met a metamorphagus before."
"Care to explain what exactly that is Moony?" James questioned, as the pale boy sunk into the seat next to her.
"It means my hair and eyes change color," she input quietly.
"That's putting it mildly. It means she can change her features without the aid of potion or transfiguration, just through innate ability," Remus clarified, "it's quite remarkable really."
He reached out curiously to touch on of her shockingly pink tresses, causing her to flinch noticeably and him to quickly retract his hand, "I apologize, that was quite rude of me wasn't it."
"It's fine," she breathed as her heart rate slowly returned to normal, noting how Sirius was regarding her with the same stare he had after she'd flinched earlier, "Just surprised me that's all."
"Do you have the control to do any more drastic changes yet?" Remus questioned, accepting her explanation without too much pause, "I once read of a metamorphagus who could change entirely into any number of people's likenesses at will."
She shook her head quickly, causing her now lilac hair to dance around her head playfully, "Control isn't exactly how I'd describe it. It just kind of changes."
"Interesting, to be perfectly honest, I had no idea any metamorphagi were attending Hogwarts, let alone in our year," she could tell Remus wanted to continue questioning her but she was desperate to get off the subject of her ever-shifting appearance.
Sirius evidently picked up on her anxiety, and quickly shifted the conversation to some Quidditch match that had apparently been a huge upset. She cast a grateful glance at him and was met with a wry smile that would have made half the girls she knew swoon. As it was, she settled comfortably into her seat between the handsome rebellious Black brother, and the pale sandy-haired Remus. From there, the rest of the journey to school seemed to go smoothly. She managed to enjoy herself a bit, laughing at their antics and boisterous chatter. When the train finally arrived, she was only half relieved and surprisingly disappointed to realize she'd be parting ways with them so soon.
"Well, it was nice to meet you all," she nodded to them as she stood.
Sirius quickly stood too and reached out a hand, but stopped short of actually touching her this time, "Whoa there, little mouse, where do you think you're off to now? We didn't scare you off that quickly did we?"
"I just assumed…" she trailed off as she took in all their friendly and mildly hurt faces.
"Come on, you can get a carriage with us," Peter piped up and held the door for her in a gesture that would have been gallant if performed by James or Sirius but came off as heart-meltingly endearing from the smaller boy.
Sirius nodded and strode out the door then turned to look for her. So, she did the only thing she could do. She took a deep breath and walked out as if to follow his lead, before bolting the other direction.
The train corridor streamed past her as she ran, a blur of crimson and gold, as is mocking her choice to leave the four Gryffindors. Panic swelling in her chest with the realization of how odd she must have seemed to them all, but she knew it was for the best. Getting close to people would never lead to anything but heartache, still, it had been a lovely train ride. Now, she just needed to find her way off the damned thing. She was far more focused on finding the nearest door off the engine than where she was going, which is probably how she managed to slam directly into an all too solid person and land sprawling on the floor. When she caught her breath enough to look up and apologize, she stopped short to find herself staring into familiar grey eyes.
"I guess it's only fair you run into me this time," he laughed and extended a hand to help her up.