Chapter 3
"Sirius Black" Abigail called in an edged tone, voice dangerously low. She stood with her hands on her hips in the doorway of our compartment and wore an expression on her face similar to that which a mother would make whilst reprimanding her child. I could make out the faces of her posse and a few onlookers through the glass doors.
"I haven't seen you once all summer, you hardly wrote back to me, barely filling 5 inches of parchment, and now here I find you sitting happily in this carriage with your stupid friends, don't you even want to see your girlfriend?" She demanded.
James looked indignant, about to protest at being called a "stupid friend", but Remus and I silenced him with a just-don't-go-there look.
"Nice to see you too Abi" Sirius mumbled. He stood up with a sigh and pulled his girlfriend lightly by the forearm, away from the noisy spectators.
"Go on, disperse" James shooed the stragglers.
"Well I don't envy him" Peter put in, attempting to fill the silence that was still hanging in the carriage, which was ridiculous because anyone who knew anything could tell you Peter envied Sirius.
"Come on guys, now we don't have to put up with his obnoxious arse for a good half of the journey" I said, eliciting laughs from the boys.
"I heard that" Sirius' voice came from the other side of the door.
We stared incredulously as he waltzed in and reclined in his seat with his hands behind his head.
"How did you calm the storm that fast?" Remus finally inquired.
"Snogging. Always does the trick." He winked at me. I wrinkled my nose and gagged while the others groaned. Sirius chuckled.
After a while of idle chatter, Abigail walked back in and plonked herself flush against next Sirius and began droning on about how Sleakeazy's Potion should be strengthened. I would award them points for not snogging in front of us all but honestly it wouldn't make a difference to the killed mood. After suffering a full three minutes of the scene, I got up to find Lily, Marlene and Mary.
"Where are you going Bella?" James immediately perked up, I didn't miss the silent glint in his eye that said do NOT leave us here with them, but I pretended not to notice.
"Just off to see Lily" I said, "and no, you can't come James, you have had more than enough experience with Lily's temper and I'd like a smooth start to this year please." With that I opened the door. Sirius looked like he wanted to stop me but Abigail pulled his ear towards her and began whispering something that promptly returned his attention to her. No doubt she was offering whispers of her vulgar services. Not wanting to stay a minute longer, I smiled at all of them and left.
"Lily," I began in an inquiring tone, with a mouth stuffed with delicious pumpkin pasties, "do you really think there's no chance for you and James? No hear me out" – I cut her off before she could protest – "it's just, look at him, and I'm being objective here, he's got all the good qualities Sirius has and you get along with him just fine! And it can't hurt that you'd practically be my sister. Besides, he has much better taste in women than Sirius" I wrinkled my nose, recalling Abigail in the marauders compartment earlier.
"See again, back to Sirius. You know he and Abi won't last a month longer right?"
"So what Lils? He'll move on to someone else like her. Merlin knows he has choice pick at Hogwarts. Never once has he gone for any sort of substance." I paused. "And even if he did, it wouldn't make a difference to me."
Lily gave me the condescending really? look.
"Okay look, I'd be lying if I said I'm completely not bothered about him, but it's not like I want to be his girlfriend. You know what I mean?" I clicked my tongue in frustration when she shook her head. "We work too well as friends, and its cliché but we will never be able to piece back that friendship if things went wrong. I mean, we've been friends for years! I'm not in love with him anyway. I do feel uncomfortable and irritated by Abi but that's mostly because of his poor choice in girlfriends. To be honest with you, if he picked himself a decent girl, I wouldn't mind, in fact I'd be happy for them." Lily looked sceptical so I pushed, "I'm not the jealous type and you know it. Remember when I was dating Jonathon and he used to flirt all the time with those Hufflepuff's? I didn't say a word and our break up had nothing to do with it." Lily slowly nodded, reluctantly seeing my point. I continued "He's a brilliant guy, but honestly he's just out there to have fun and the moment. I know what's good for myself, and it is NOT a relationship with Sirius Black." Taking a deep breath, we sat in silence for a while.
Mary and Marlene returned from changing into their robes. "Why do you two look so glum?" Marlene asked. "I'm afraid you'll have to drop the pasties and go get changed" she took on a babysitter-like tone.
Laughing, we left the compartment to get changed.
"Oh no" I stopped. "I've left my trunk in the marauders compartment." Lily's eyes widened and she made to dash away but I dragged her towards the boys' carriage before she could. "I'm not facing Abigail alone again" I said defiantly.
An obnoxious shriek of laughter was abruptly cut short when I knocked on the door. I saw Abi's beady eyes narrow at Lily and I through the glass. I had to stifle a giggle as I saw all the boys' faces visibly brighten, most notable of all, James'. His face radiated to impossible levels of exuberance, presumably after seeing his "Lily flower". He practically leapt to the door and wrenched it open, enveloping us both in a tight hug.
"LILY FLOWER" he exclaimed, while ruffling my hair, "thanks for the save B, she was killing us all slowly in there." I giggled and slid under his arm into the compartment, leaving a flustered Lily to chat to a very excited James, whose voice had suddenly dropped three octaves, and upright stance sank into a casual lean on the doorframe, which I can only guess was intended to be suave, but turned out to look like a slouched giraffe.
"What's up Bells? Couldn't stay away from me for long?" Sirius said with a glint in his eye. Abigail, who looked like she had swallowed a lemon from the moment we entered, was shifting her beady eyes between Sirius and I, fixing us with her most venomous glare. Upon reflection, she had a pretty face, when it wasn't contorted like how it is most of the time.
"Just came to get my trunk" I said cheerfully. I proceeded to attempt to lift the heavy luggage from the storage rack above my head. And of course, as my fate would have it, a sudden jolt by the train had me stumbling when a strong hand steadied my back, and the other came up to catch the trunk before it hit me in the head.
And let me tell you, it's not as romantic as you're imagining it. I freaked out at the proximity and let my hands fall to my sides. Sirius' other hand immediately left my back to support the weight of the trunk as I'd so helpfully let go.
Another perfectly timed jolt had us on the floor, with the trunk prohibiting our movement. And to be honest all I could feel was the pain. The trunk was now sitting very painfully on my hip bone, and my head had smashed against Sirius' elbow. I can only imagine the damage done to Sirius, who was under me and the trunk. From my angle, I had a clear view of Abigail's horrified face, twisted and puffed in anger, her mouth moving like a guppy but words failed her.
"ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?" Lily screamed whilst her hands were positively ripping out her hair. Probably because we weren't moving. Right.
James rushed to help us up.
"Hey I got your head there, I'm really sorry, are you alright?" Sirius asked me worriedly. Before I could assure him that I was perfectly fine, a banshee tore through our room, deafening us. Oh, I mean Abigail started screaming. And I mean s-c-r-e-a-m-i-n-g.
I only caught snippets of the tantrum – "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" and "JUST LYING THERE LIKE YOU'RE ON A BEACH", littered with some very colourful phrases which I do not wish to repeat. I was starting to feel a bit dizzy, and it must have been evident from my face because Sirius and Remus were immediately fussing over me, James grabbed my trunk and placed it outside the compartment before it could cause any more catastrophes.
"SHUT UP" Lily yelled at Abigail. Once again, fiery temper caused silence to descend upon the carriage, and the crowd of busybodies was back. She dragged me gingerly away from the mess and fawned over me just like my mother would have.
"Honestly Lils, I'm fine!" I said for about the fiftieth time. We were seating inside one of the horseless carriages. I gazed at the shimmering castle. It was out 6th year at Hogwarts, and if the beginning was anything to go by, I was in for an interesting year.
A/N: Reviews would be awesome, I've had experience writing, but it's my first fanfiction, so any constructive criticism or comments would be much appreciated :)