Of Pick-Up Lines and Nutters

Josefine's POV

Lily was right. I thought. Sirius Black is a womanizer. God, one sentence and I'm blushing.

I averted my gaze from The Charmer and grinned at Lily's furious face. She obviously wasn't too happy about the seating arrangements. James was trying to get her to talk to him, but she blatantly ignored him. I thought she was exaggerating a bit. I mean, James seemed like a good guy.

"Lily." Said red head looked at me. "Why don't you answer him? He's making a fool of himself."

I was glared at, so I fell silent. James shot me a grateful look. I smiled back. I felt Sirius' shoulder brush against mine and I felt my face heat up. Darn. I knew that feeling. I had just fallen in love with another heart breaker. I thanked Merlin, when Remus started asking me questions about California. I was more than happy to answer.

"Hey, Josefine," Lily said, suddenly. "How's it going with Ryan?"

I tensed. Ryan had been my boyfriend, until a few weeks ago. We'd been going steady for a few months and I was happy with him. Well, until… I hadn't spoken about it to anyone.

"Who are you talking about?" I demanded. I knew my face probably looked cold and angry, but I couldn't help it.

Lily looked surprised. "Ryan…? You know… your boyfriend?"

I scowled. "Don't talk to me about him."

"Did you break up?" Lily asked. Personally, I thought the answer to that was pretty obvious.

"Obviously. Otherwise, she would have answered differently," Sirius snapped. Lily glared at him.

"Anyway," I said, lightly. "How is it decided which House I'm in?"

Sirius' POV

I'd felt Josefine tense when Lily mentioned this Ryan person. I was shocked at the drastic change in Josefine's face. It wasn't cheerful and smiley, like it had been only a minute before. It was cold as ice. Her eyes flashed menacingly. I don't think it was meant for Lily. I wondered what exactly had happened between this, Ryan and her. A wave of jealousy came over me, as I thought of another man being with her. I was surprised to note that I was not only jealous but angry. Ryan had obviously hurt her. I imagined myself beating the guy to a pulp.

James was telling Josefine that she had to fight trolls and slay dragons to determine which House she would be in. Lily looked annoyed. I was annoyed as well.

"Don't listen to James," I said, glaring at him over Josefine's head. "You just have to sit on a stool and put a hat on your head."

Josefine laughed. "Is that all? My Merlin, you know how to exaggerate, James!" She smiled at me.

"Black forgot to mention it was a talking hat," Lily put in.

Josefine raised an elegant eyebrow. "A talking hat? That's a bit freaky."

Remus took over. "It kind of reads your mind. It can tell whether you belong in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin."

"Cool. You're all Gryffindors right?" Josefine asked. We nodded. "Then that's where I want to go!"

"You're a Gryffindor through and through, Jo," Lily said smiling at her friend.

The six of us chatted happily for a while. Well I say six, when I mean four. Lily and James kept arguing. I saw Josefine felt a bit uncomfortable when they did, so I tried to distract her by asking about California.

"Did you like living there?" I asked.

Josefine nodded, vigorously. "It's awesome. Papa and I live right next to the beach. It's amazing."

I felt my stomach flutter slightly, while I listened to her speak, vividly about her home. The minutes passed quickly, as I chatted to Josefine. Soon, I heard the food trolley coming down the hallway.

"Do you want a Pumpkin Pasty?" I asked Josefine.

She nodded, smiling shyly. I smiled and went out of the compartment. I opened my mouth to ask the friendly witch for two pasties when a boy shoved in front of me. I scowled.

"Move it, Regulus," I snapped.

He turned round to face me. "Make me, blood- traitor."

I clenched my fists.

Josefine's POV

"Damn it," James muttered. He was looking through the compartment door where Sirius was standing. There was another boy standing in front of him and they both looked ready to strangle each other.

Remus and James hurried into the corridor. Lily and I followed.

"Regulus, I'm warning you," Sirius growled.

Regulus smirked. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Well, what do we have here." He made a show of looking me up and down and licking his lips. "How about I re-arrange the alphabet and put you and I together?"

Ugh, what a line. I thought. I glared at him. "Let tell you something, little boy. Girls with attitude like mine don't speak to guys with faces like yours."

Regulus smirk grew bigger. "Attitude, eh? I like that."

"Didn't you hear her?" Sirius spat. "She called you ugly, dumbass."

Regulus glared at him and waltzed past pecking my cheek on the way. My blood grew cold. Ryan… The feeling I had managed to get rid of for the past few weeks, came flooding back and before I could stop myself, my fist had connected with the side of Regulus' face.

"Don't you ever touch me again," I hissed, before I stormed back into the compartment.

I sat down in the place Sirius had previously occupied and closed my eyes. I shouldn't have hit him… I heard the others come back in and resume conversation. Lily had probably warned them about my temper when I was angry, so I was grateful no one spoke. Sighing deeply, I closed my eyes. I drifted off into an un-easy doze.

°°°

I woke as the train gave a sharp jolt. I winced when my forehead bumped against the window pane.

That's gonna bruise. I thought, rubbing it gently.

"Hey, you're awake," Peter said.

I grinned. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Sirius smiled. "That was one hell of a punch you gave my brother, earlier."

My jaw dropped. I punched his brother?

Nice one, Gomez. You punched the brother of the guy you now like. Go you. Don't you just hate it when your conscience speaks to you?

"Merlin, I'm so sorry. I didn't know he was your bro- Wait a minute. Why aren't you angry?" I demanded.

Sirius laughed. "My family hates me and I hate my family."

I was silent. "Oh…"

"Pureblood maniacs," Sirius expanded.

I grimaced. "My aunt's like that. Bloody annoying."

Lily's eyebrows furrowed. "Isn't your dad muggle-born?"

"Mom's sister," I said.

As the train sped on, I chatted to Sirius some more. Eventually, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station and the six of us all clambered off the train.

"Firs' years over 'ere!" Boomed a loud voice.

I leapt a metre on the air and glared at Lily who was trying to hide her grin. The Marauders greeted the loud voice cheerfully and I glanced at it warily. The owner was huge. Outwards and upwards. He seemed quite friendly though. I looked up at the castle and I was completely taken by its beauty. Lily shot me a glance that said: "I know, right?" I followed her as she headed towards carriages being pulled by winged horses. They looked sort of mystical. I vowed to find out more about them. I was enthralled as the carriages led us up to the castle.

Suddenly, the nerves kicked in. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod," I said, loudly. The Marauders and Lily looked at me.

"Why you freaking out Jo?" Lily asked, smiling.

I mimed putting a hat on. "I'm gonna have to put a hat on in front of the whole entire school!" I said, shrilly. James and Sirius snorted. "This is it. This is how I'm going to die. Sheesh. I was hoping I would die doing something cool, like…" I trailed off.

"Bungee jumping?" James supplied helpfully.

I snapped my fingers. "Exactly. I was hoping I would die bungee jumping, but noooooo. Fate decided to be cruel to me and have me die by putting on a hat!"

I could see Sirius biting his lip to stop himself from laughing. James didn't hold back. Neither Remus and Peter. Lily was faking seriousness. Is seriousness a word?

"Breathe, Jo," Lily said, putting her hands on my shoulders. "That's it. In, out, in, out, in, out."

My breathing slowly returned to normal. "Itsy, bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out-"

"Oh my Merlin," Lily stated. "My best friend is a nutter."

I huffed. I am not a nutter. I'm just… eccentric.