x XRoweenaJAugustineX x- Both Remus and Messalina's birthdays are in the spring so they turned sixteen at the end of their fifth year.
Messalina groaned as she flipped over. Beneath her, two floors down, Mr. and Mrs. Prewett were banging pots together loudly in hopes it would awaken her but the girl merely continued to laze around in the small bed. She had, for the past two months, been waking up past eleven daily and would've slept longer if she didn't have work at noon.
It was two loud cracks that fully woke her up. Fabian and Gideon had apparated directly above her bed and thus landed directly on top of her. Messalina screamed as she was flung from the bed, Gideon having landed half on-half off of her left leg making her shoot of the bed onto the cold wooden floors. The twins weren't finished there though however, Fabian leapt off the bed to grab her arms as Gideon snatched up her legs.
"Throw 'er in the pond!" Gideon yelled loudly as Messalina began to squirm and shriek.
"Boys, let go of your sister." Mrs. Prewett ordered from her sudden spot in the doorway. Reluctantly the boys released her and Messalina mock glared at them before throwing herself at her 'mother's' feet.
"Oh you are my saviour Mum P! You saved me from their abusive and-" Messalina began to launch into her favorite speech but the woman merely shook her head and began to walk back downstairs. Picking herself off the ground the brunette began to sort through her things as the brothers sat on her bed.
"So, you excited for school?" Gideon asked, running a hand through his vibrant hair.
"Yeah, it'll be nice to see everyone again." Gideon snorted at his adopted sister, her entire torso inside her closet as she threw random articles of clothing out. Finally she decided on shorts and a white shirt and emerged from the closet.
"So you and that Lupin kid still together?" Fabian asked trying to be discreet but his brother elbowed him in the gut. As he awaited her answer Fabian began to rub the back of his neck anxiously.
"It's Remus and yes why wouldn't we be?" She asked turning around to give him a confused look.
"No reason, just uh wondering." Even though Messalina didn't look convinced she went with along with it.
"How's training going?" She asked suddenly changing the subject.
"Mad-Eye's a piece of shit but aside from that bloody excellent."
"I really do think you should reconsider Egypt and come into the business," Fabian suggested. There had been dark wizarding activities believed to be done by You-Know-Who there not long before and he and Gideon agreed they should try to keep her home when she graduated. Gideon seemed confident in their new mission but Fabian was quite sure that they would never even get close to changing her mind. "What we do is pretty cool too you know."
"It's been my dream my whole life to go to Egypt, Fabe. You know that. So what's making you want to change my mind?" She asked, walking slowly towards him.
"BEAR! STOP THAT DIGGING THIS INSTANT!" Mrs. Prewett screamed from below and for a moment the three giggled before they turned solemn once again.
"It-it's just that there's been suspected dark magic going around down there, its not that safe." Fabian bit his lip when he finished, staring down at the carpet as if a million glittering galleons were resting there.
"Well after last year I wouldn't exactly say that Hogwarts, which is supposed to be the safest place in all of Europe, when I was attacked playing Quidditch." She hissed as she threw a pair of shoes into her trunk. "And after what I saw in the beginning of summer and that was here of all places!"
"Lina there's a war out there and-" Gideon added.
"Don't you dare let me go back to school with these thoughts in my head Fabian and Gideon Prewett or swear to Merlin I'll tell Mum what you two did when they went to London last week. And maybe about that huge hole Dad found in the backyard last month. I think they'd especially be interested in that little plot of yours." The pair paled suddenly and stood up as the door was pushed open slightly. The grey mutt slinked in, lying down on the ground, crossing its paws before putting its head on top of them.
"Did Mum yell at you too Bear?" As if he had heard Gideon's inquiry the dog whined.
"This is one strange way to travel don't you think?" Arthur Weasley asked as they drove down the dirt road in a car he had borrowed from a friend of a friend's squib brother. "It takes them so long to get them anywhere."
"Arthur, watch the road!" Molly shrieked suddenly as Arthur swerved slightly after he turned to look at everyone in the backseats. Mr. and Mrs. Prewett were both at work, having said their goodbyes earlier that morning.
Messalina was sandwiched between the twins with Charlie and Bill on both of their laps with Percy in Molly's.
"Saw, don't you guys think that-" Arthur turned around once again to look in the backseat and Percy began to shriek as they swerved along the road away from Ottery St. Catchpole.
It took them far longer than it should have to get to King's Cross Station, and it was nearly 11 o'clock when they all burst out of the car. Fabian and Gideon pulled Messalina's things out of the car as fast as they could with promises of sending her anything she left behind via owl.
"Be good this year Messalina!" Molly yelled out the window getting a good laugh from everyone both in and out of the car.
"Bye Molly, bye Arthur! Bye boys!" The two oldest waved at her from their new seats alone in the backseat and she gave them each a brief wave before the three ran into the building. Muggles gave them odd looks as they sprinted past them, the twins having magically shrunken the trunks to fit easily into their pockets.
"You ought to get to your train a little early next time!" An old man called after them as they rushed past him. Lina waved her hand absentmindedly at him as they slowed down having reached Platform 8. The absolute last thing any of them needed was to have the Ministry of Magic on their backs for attracting Muggle attention to one of the most wizarding areas in the entire country.
"Here, don't forget these." Fabian handed her two rectangular trunks each the size of her pinkie finger which she dropped into her pocket. She hugged both of them briefly as she wondered what time it was. Praying that the platform was still open she ran towards it, the brothers making sure no one was paying attention to her. "See you at Christmas!"
She thankfully made it through to the platform where hundreds of crying mothers and proud fathers stood, waving as kids hung half in-half out of the train. Mothers yelled out orders and reminders to them as fathers either chuckled or nodded sternly. Pushing her way through the crowd, the brunette jumped onto the train just as the whistle blew and she nearly fell over as the train began to move slowly.
Making her way through the people who were standing in the corridor for reasons unknown, Messalina found herself face to face with Murphy Callaghan who looked rather happy with himself.
"Oh Messalina! Hey!" His voice cracked in the middle of her name and she had to refrain from laughing. Murphy's self-esteem seemed to be fragile, and what others thought of him was clearly important.
"Hi Murph, how was your summer?" She asked, looking into the compartment beside him to see the most popular of the Ravenclaws younger than sixth years within.
"I'll see you in a minute right Murphy?" A pretty blonde girl asked in a tinkling voice, glancing behind her at the nearly bursting compartment.
"Yeah, yeah just a sec Penny." He waved his hand at her absentmindedly, still looking at Lina. "My summer was amazing thanks to you guys, I got so so many letters from everyone!"
"That's amazing Murph. Did your annoying older cousin do anything?" She asked and a dark look came over him.
"Messed around with me for an entire month when i stayed there. How was your summer?"
"Full of work, it'll be good to be back though." She yawned and ran a hand through her hair as the train began to pick up speed having left King's Cross. "You haven't seen any of the four of them have you?"
"Yeah, last one in the way back."
"Thanks Murph, I'll see you later okay?" The boy nodded and opened the compartment door to be with those closer in age to him.
Messalina made her way down the train slowly, squeezing through groups of people who hadn't made their way into their compartments yet. After what felt like a lifetime she found herself walking into the last compartment in the train. She paused for a moment outside and looked in. Remus was nowhere to be found but James and Sirius were animatedly telling Peter a story, who was listening with every fiber of his being. Opening the door she laughed when all three of them turned to face her with wide eyes.
"Where were you?"
"Why weren't you on the platform?"
"Remus is looking for you!"
"Arthur wanted to drive us here." She stated with a shake of her head as she sat down. Putting her legs up onto the bench opposite her, Messalina put her hands behind her head.
"And how exactly was that?" James asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Nauseating but hilarious, Molly shrieked at him the entire time and Percy threw up all over the dashboard. It was awesome." The three boys snorted and Messalina grinned.
"Lina!" Messalina nearly got whiplash from turning her head so fast. Remus was standing just inside the compartment door, already in his slightly too big robes and his hair unusually messy. His scars looked worse than they ever had been, the full moon having been two nights before. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked exhausted but Messalina had never been happier to see him. Between work and babysitting the Weasley children it had been hard to see him over the summer.
"Remus!" He crossed the compartment in a single stride and sat down beside her, slowly putting his arm around her. "How are you?"
"Other than being tired, excellent. You?"
"As well as one can expect I suppose seeing as Arthur drove me here."
"And how did that go?" Remus asked warily.
"Percy threw up all over the dashboard." She gave a small smile at the memory and Remus turned to the other three.
"Is it just me or does she seem happy that he threw up?"
"Oh I definitely am. I can't stand the little tattle-tale. Just last week he told Mum that I had a glass of firewhiskey at the bar. How the little brat knew I'll never know, I swear he's going to be like a smaller version of Michael Chang." The four boys snorted and laughed, half expecting the boy to walk past the door and ordering them to get their feet off the benches. "So how were your summers?"
"Mum made me go to the Changing of the Guard eleven times. A man can only watch the exact same thing happen so many times." Messalina stifled a laugh at Peter's information, the picture of them going to the changing together at Buckingham Palace too hilarious.
"Mum and Dad Potter took us to Wales and Merlin oh Merlin did they have some beautiful and shaggable girls there." Sirius grinned wolfishly and Messalina crinkled her nose.
"That is disgusting."
Sirius however continued on as though he hadn't heard her. "I have the pleasure of adding three more notches to my new bedpost."
"The poor bloke who gets stuck with all your old ones," Remus sympathized and Messalina snorted. "Well, I've got the prefects meeting in a bit. I'll be back later."
Messalina nodded and yawned, her head resting on the window. Blinking a few times she was asleep by the time Remus had closed the compartment door.
The rest of the train ride and the Welcome Feast were uneventful other than the fact that Dumbledore's speech had a darker tone to it than usual. Messalina walked with the three non-prefect Marauders behind the large crowd of jittery and excited first years.
They entered the plush common room and instantly sat down on their normal seats in front of the fire.
"And whatever you do, do not trust any of those four." Messalina looked up when she heard Remus' slightly raised voice. He, Lily Evans and the four other prefects were talking to the first years a little ways away and suddenly it didn't seem all that long ago that Messalina had stood a good ten feet from all the other children with her head down trying not to cry. She bit her lip to rid herself of the thoughts of those painful first few weeks and turned to look at her friends.
James was staring at Lily with complete and utter adoration, Sirius was leaning against the wall talking to Emmeline Vance, a pretty blonde fifth year and Peter was looking at Marlene McKinnon like she was a goddess.
Remus winked at her as they led the students up the stairs to the dormitories, the first year girls who noticed bursting into giggles. Snorting at him, Messalina stretched out her legs which ached from sitting still for so long.
"Benjy," She called, having seen the seventh year sitting with Alice Fortescue. "When are we to begin Quidditch tryouts? We have nearly half of our team to fill."
"I was thinking next week, I'll start making the sign this week for the tryouts. I'm afraid we won't be able to even find anyone with as much talent in their entire being as the twins and Caradoc have in a toenail." Benjy rubbed the side of his head, being the sole captain of the Gryffindor team was already beginning to wear him down.
"Alright sounds good," She said with a laugh, standing up. "I'm going to bed guys."
James merely waved his hand at her still looking at Lily Evans, Sirius wasn't paying her any attention and Peter nodded. Sighing she moved towards the stairs. She missed the twins.
"I don't like it."
"And what doesn't strike your fancy now Remus?" Sirius asked as he pulled his shirt off. They were getting ready for bed, having classes the next morning. James snickered in the corner, small droplets of toothpaste flying out of his mouth.
"Keeping secrets from Messalina." He murmured shaking his head at Sirius.
"You mean the fact that we're animagi?" Peter asked and Remus paled, shushing him immediately.
"Keep your voice down Peter! You never know who is going to be walking past our door." He scolded and Sirius snorted, jumping into the plush four poster bed.
"Loosen up will you Moony? And Lina's not going to figure it out, she didn't figure out that your a werewolf."
"Shh!" Remus hissed and Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Calm yourself and besides, she won't tell."
"There's a difference between my furry little problem and the fact that you guys willingly became you-know-whats!" Remus barked and James followed Sirius' lead, throwing himself onto his bed.
"Fine Remus, we'll stay quiet."
"That's what is bothering me! Keeping that from her." Remus sank down onto his bed, putting his head in his hands.
"Well we can't exactly just tell her." James stated, his voice softening.
"She'll never forgive me if she figures it out." Remus added, laying on his back so he was staring at the ceiling.
"We'll be more careful Moony, er Remus." James continued. Feeling that they needed a change in the suddenly uncomfortable atmosphere he put his hands under his head and sighed. "Say did you see Evans? What a beauty."