Sarah found herself walking into the Great Hall alone for breakfast the next day. She took her place at the Gryffindor table between Sirius and Peter. She was piling eggs on her plate when she heard Sirius clear his throat. "Something wrong Sirius?" she said, looking up at him. "Remus said you were helping him with his potions essay yesterday," he said coolly. "Yeah," she replied, "is there something wrong with that?" Sirius shrugged and looked interested in his glass of pumpkin juice, smirking, "If that's how you help people, I wouldn't mind some." Sarah made a noise of protest and hit him on his arm. "I'm joking Burkett!" Sirius said chuckling.
At that moment James and Remus sat across from the trio, Remus smiled at Sarah then glanced nervously at James. Sarah jumped a little when James started piling his plate with food almost violently. He began mumbling to himself and Sarah caught "Thinks she's so perfect… charming as a hippogriff am I? Well, she's just as sweet as a grindylow…" She looked at the others then back at James and spoke, "James is there something wrong?" James snorted and began stabbing his eggs with his fork. Sarah looked at Remus for help. "He tried asking Lily out again," Remus said in a hushed tone. Peter and Sirius sighed while Sarah looked skeptical.
"Don't worry," Sirius told her as he continued eating, "this is just the first of many attempts that will occur throughout the year." Sarah still couldn't help but worry. "He'll be fine by lunch," Peter said, "he's been asking her for the past five years and she always says no."
Sarah sighed, signaling defeat and glanced down the table at the rest of her house. She saw Lily Evans sitting next to a fragile looking brunette, Lily was obviously upset as well, the brunette whispering what Sarah assumed were words of comfort. She shook her head and ate her breakfast.
The five friends were entering potions when Sarah had made up her mind. "You guys go ahead. I'm going to sit somewhere else today," she told them. Sirius and James took their usual table in the back while Remus followed Peter to an empty table. Sarah made her way to the front of the class where a girl with shoulder length red hair sat. "Is this seat taken?" she asked. Lily looked up, her expression half surprised, half annoyed. "Oh, I thought you were Potter. No, that seat's empty." She said. Sarah sat and smiled, extending her hand, "I'm Sarah." Lily took her hand, "Lily."
The two girls sat there in an awkward silence for a few minutes. Sarah glanced to the back of the room to find James gaping at her, she smiled and winked at him. "So Lily, why did you think it was Potter?" Lily sneered and said, "He keeps bugging me, begging me to go on a date with him." She too turned to look back at James and Sirius who were in the middle of zooming paper planes around some Slytherin girls. She faced the front again, scowling. "You don't like him?" Sarah questioned. Lily looked at her incredulously, "James Potter is the most arrogant person I have ever met. I would rather marry a ghoul with the chicken pox than go out with him." Sarah shrugged, although she liked James she had to admit that Lily had a point, James could be arrogant.
Potions came and went, Sarah found out that Lily was extremely gifted in the art of potion making. When the class ended Sarah sprinted out of the room to catch up with Lily, ignoring Sirius calling her name. "Lily!" she called after her. Lily stopped and turned. "Hey I know that we don't really know each other that well, but I was thinking that maybe you could help me with that essay Slughorn gave?" Lily contemplated this and then glared at something over Sarah's shoulder. Sarah turned to see the Marauders waiting for her, James smiling and running a hand through his hair. Sarah turned back to Lily, "I promise they won't come." Lily smiled and nodded, "Ok, I'll meet you in library tomorrow." With that she walked off to meet up with the same fragile brunette she was with at breakfast.
Sarah headed over to the boys, "What was that about?" Remus asked. "Just girl talk," Sarah said, laughing softly. "So how bad does she want me?" James asked eagerly. Sarah looked up at him, "To use her exact words, she would 'rather marry a ghoul with the chicken pox'." James just smiled brightly as they headed to lunch.
Sarah opened her eyes in the darkness; she could have sworn she just heard a howl. She sat up and looked around, all the other girls were sleeping, was she the only one who heard it? She got out of bed and crossed to the window, her ears were ringing with the echoes of the sound, she knew she hadn't imagined it. She stood at the window for minutes, but finally came to the conclusion that there were no four legged beasts running around. She sighed and returned to her bed.
Remus was missing at breakfast that morning, when she asked Sirius about it he mumbled something about Remus feeling ill. Sarah took his word for it and continued her day. When Remus didn't show up in any of her classes she began worrying again. This time she asked James who simply said "He must have stayed in bed all day." Sarah wasn't completely reassured but didn't have time to question him since she had to meet Lily in the library.
"Sarah!" Lily snapped, "Please try and focus here. I asked what the five main ingredients are." This was one of the countless times Sarah had stared at the far wall of the library, chewing on the end of her quill. She started and began flipping pages in the book in front of her, "Yeah… right… sorry." Lily looked at her, "What's got you so distracted today?" Sarah sighed and looked up at Lily who was giving her a worried look.
"It's just Remus," Sarah began, "I haven't seen him at all today, and it's just odd." Lily let out a little gasp, "You don't know?" she said. Sarah looked at her curiously. "He's in the hospital wing. I saw him there earlier when I had to bring—Hey where are you going?" Lily shouted after Sarah, who had gathered up her bag and ran out of the library.
Sarah reached the doors to the infirmary and swung them open, scanning the room. She spotted Remus lying in a bed in the far corner. She ran over and sat down in the chair beside his bed. He looked unnaturally pale and had numerous cuts and scrapes on his face and arms. Remus was staring at her, unable to say anything due to the shock of her entrance. "What… Who… How… What happened?" Sarah stuttered. Remus gave a small smile and said, "A marauders midnight adventure gone awry." Sarah looked at him in disbelief, what were they doing that caused Remus to end up in a bed in the hospital wing? "Why didn't James and Sirius tell me you were here?! I heard from Lily and I came as soon as heard. I kind of just left Lily in the library, but I'm sure she'll understand. She'd do the same right? Anyway I'll apologize tomorrow, and I'm going to kill James…" Remus held up a hand to silence her rambling.
"James and Sirius didn't tell you because I asked them not to," he told her calmly. Sarah gave him look of hurt and anger. He smiled and said "To be honest I don't like to see pretty girls like you worry about me." She opened her mouth to say something but blushed at his comment and stared at her hands. Remus reached over and took one in his and they sat in a comfortable silence until Madame Pomfrey came and ushered her out.
Ok, I meant to have this posted yesterday, but I got in late. Hope you guys like it!! Chp 4 coming soon:) Thanks to those who reviewed.