"I just can't believe it!"
"Remus, are you counting how many times she says that?"
"I think she's gotten to fifty by now."
The five walked down the hallway, Elias tugging on her hair stiffly, the four others joking around and teasing her slightly.
"Sirius, do you have seer blood in the Black family? I know that's an extremely silly question, but you were wondering really quickly whether Raven was a Slyth or not." The Italian girl looked up at Sirius, who stood about four inches above her, contrasting from Remus's two inches and James's three.
"No, I don't. The Blacks think Divination is blasphemy, and it's one of the only things I'll agree with them about." Sirius shook his head.
James smiled. "At least you got into Gryffindor, and your brother got in Ravenclaw. Booky little blighters, but it's not that bad."
There was a short silence. "Um, guys?"
The four boys looked up.
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
They all shrugged and started muttering different things at the same time.
Elias laughed out loud. "Take turns."
Remus shrugged. "You're the first girl we've met who doesn't fall all over us or reprimand us."
It was James's turn. "You have a great sense of humor."
Peter looked up. "You're really nice. And you're different."
Sirius grinned. "And you're hot."
Elias scoffed at Sirius, and kicked him in the shin.
Sirius winced, and went on. "What I meant to say is that, yes, you're hot, but you have the spirit of a Marauder, even if you are of the opposite gender."
Elias's right eyebrow slowly rose. "Marauder?"
Remus looked at James. "Did we tell her?"
"Don't think so."
Remus faced Elias and stuffed his hands in his pockets, still walking. "We are the Marauders. We have been since we were in the first ear. We're the 'cool crowd'. You're hanging with us, making you either one of our girlfriends, or a legend."
Elias smirked. "Hopefully, that makes me a legend."
"I think it does." Remus laughed. "You're allowed to stay around, because we like you."
Elias threw her hands up in the air. "Glorious! Firewhiskey all around!"
James laughed. "Your sexy rating just went from an eight to a nine."
Elias gave James a scolding finger. "But no cigarettes. They taste nasty, even if the doctors say they're good for you."
Sirius faked disappointment.
Slytherin? Why Slytherin?
Raven appeared vacant as she unpacked her bag into a set of drawers next to her bunk bed.
What about Lily and Misty and Susan and… and Remus….
A sweet, soprano voice came out of nowhere. "Hey, you!"
Raven looked up. "Yes?"
A lone girl had come into her dormitory, obviously recovering from the party that was being thrown in the Common Room. Her soft blonde ringlets fell appealingly around her heart-shaped face. The girl was, at estimate, about Raven's height.
"Are you new?" She asked curiously, walking over.
"Yes, I ahm. I just got sorted and all…."
The girl cocked her head. "You don't look like a first year…"
"That's because I'm not." Raven fought her eyebrow, willing it to stay normal.
The girl paused. "Oh, you're an exchanged student! I get it now!"
"It's exchange, not exchanged…" Raven now also fought her lips to not smirk.
The girl ignored her. "I'm Narcissa Black, but I'll answer to anything. Narcy, Cissa, whatever. I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to the sorting ceremony… what do you call yourself?"
"Raven. Crollari. I'm from Eetaly. You're… in Slytherin?"
Narcissa gave a pretty, piping laugh. "Yeah, I am, why else would I be in the bunk above you?" She shook her head. "Come on, why are you packing like that?" The blonde-haired girl whipped out her wand and flicked it. While the spell was a little jerky and incomplete, the clothes appeared much faster in the drawers. "Come on, Raven, I wanna introduce you to the house!"
Narcissa took Raven's hand and dragged her out into the Common Room, where loud music was playing and a boy was strumming out on a guitar in front of sixty-nine Slytherins.
"Oh my god, I love this song!" Narcissa tugged Raven into the throng of dancers.
Gotta get through this,
Gotta get through this,
Gotta get, gotta get
My mind off of you…
The music's beat pulsed through Raven's blood, and she soon found the sound waves sweeping her away in the undertow, and she was lost, spinning and swinging and holding hands with Narcissa and spinning around.
Narcissa laughed and halted. "Stop, stop, I feel like I'm going to hurl."
Raven grinned. "I'm that bad?"
Her new friend shook her head. "No, you're too good; you're making ME look bad."
The girls laughed and a dark-haired girl with flawless skin strolled up next to them. "Narcissa, who's this?"
"Oh, Bella!" Narcissa beamed. "Bella, this is Raven, the new exchanged student. Raven, this is Bellatrix, she's my older sister."
Bella gave a smile that looked a little fake. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Raven. Have you met everyone yet?"
Raven laughed nervously. "So many people to meet, so little time!"
Narcissa positively beamed. "She's from…" She stopped and looked at Raven. "France?"
Raven laughed. "No, Italy, silly."
"Come on, Raven, meet some other people, come with me," Bella motioned into the crowd and Raven immediately followed her, Narcissa following.
They stopped when they met a boy with shaggy blonde hair and sharp good looks. Bella smiled at him. "Raven, this is Luscious Malfoy. He's a good friend of mine."
The boy laughed and turned to Raven. "Bella's tongue slipped again- it's Lucius. Or maybe Bella THINKS I'm luscious…"
Raven laughed briefly and caught a look at Narcissa, who hadn't said a word, because she was trying to hide a flaming blush behind her hands.
"No, Lucius, I just like giving you pet names. Now, where's Rodolphus… oh, there you are, love!"
A James-Dean-esque boy appeared behind Bellatrix, sliding his arms around her little waist and kissing her cheek. His brown hair was spiked and fell over one eye. He looked up and smiled toothily at Raven (who got the impression that she was looking at a very good-looking shark) and asked, "You're Raven Crollari, right? From that really good Roman school?"
Well, at least he was smart.
Raven nodded. "Bella and Narcissa were showing me around."
"Looks like you got in with the cool crowd. You're pureblood; I've read about the Crollari house, it's almost as old as the Malfoy line. But any friend of Bella's is a friend of mine. Dance, beautiful?" He looked at Narcissa's sister, who obliged.
Narcissa chivvied Raven over to the stage, and the boy stopped playing guitar and kicked on the record player, which immediately came on with a poppy song.
The boy, who, Raven could see closely now, had black hair with blue tips, kneeled by the edge of the stage. His Yorkshire drawl threaded through his baritone voice as he asked. "Now, who's this pretty lady, Narcissa?"
"Seth, this is Raven. Raven, Seth." The two nodded to each other. Narcissa beamed at Raven. "Seth's the Slytherin Band Sex God. His band is scattered around here… where's Gerard, Seth?"
The guitarist shrugged. "Out smoking a joint, I'd guess. You gonna look for him?"
Narcissa batted her long eyelashes flirtatiously. "I only have eyes for you, Sex God. Where is he?"
"You still owe me a lap dance."
"Patience is a virtual, Seth."
Raven smothered a giggle and informed her friend that it was "Patience was a virtue". Again, Narcissa ignored her.
"Come on, Raven, you have to try the butterbeer. It's brilliant."
They walked over to the table where butterbeer was, and Raven took a sip, and clicked her tongue, watching Narcissa flounce away. The butterbeer was spiked.
Well, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Raven took a swig, and looked happily out into the crowd.
Slytherin isn't bad at all, she thought, smiling and staring into her drink.
A half-an-hour ago, Elias and the boys walked into the Common Room to see a few people dancing, and some people lying on the couches, drinking punch which was likely spiked with Firewhiskey, and couples snogging in the corners. They didn't know that their party was less hectic than the Slytherins' (Slytherin was lucky enough to have a house leader who loved parties, while Gryffindor had a strict one) and many first and second years were in their dressing gowns and up in their dorms.
Elias yawned and did a little dance to the music. "You English sure don't party very hard."
"Blame the first years," Sirius muttered. "They always tell us off if we use alcohol, but Remus sent them off to bed early so they wouldn't."
"I'm a prefect- they have to listen to me." Remus smiled. "I told them after the sorting. I got a lot of groans and fingers. Don't know where they get that from…"
"You still have no excuse. Losers. You should see the parties in Italy- you've gotta have a few good non-wasted friends to help you pull people out of your bed. Really ugly. But fun. Have any of you danced on… oh yeah, I'm talking to blokes. Nevermind."
The next morning many of the Gryffindors were hung over and for the most part, sick to their stomachs.
The Marauders and Elias were about to trudge into the Great Hall for Breakfast when they saw, a Group of Syltherins. Both groups stopped in front of the doors to the hall ready to defend themselves.
"Look at the stupid snakes thinking they're better than us." Sirius said snidely.
The Marauders laughed at this.
"That's because they are." This was a completely different voice than any; of The Marauders had ever herd before.
This comment from the stranger had made the Syltherins laugh.
"So who's the new person in your group Gallo?" Sirius asked Seth
Sirius hated Seth because of how cool he was in his house.
"Why would you care Black?"
"Show her?"
Raven Stepped forward long dark hair pulled over here face as usual
"Raven!"
"Oh so you actually do remember me?" Raven snapped back
"What Happened to you accent?"
"Oh zat acseent? I hardly theenk that I woold stay in zat forever, I've know perfect English sense I was six."
"But—,"
"I always knew that you want to brag about actually being better at me with speaking English better than I did and you also bragged about knowing more languages. But I know, seven languages, fluently."
Bella rested on one hip and gave Sirius a glare. "She's with us. Looks like you got the worse twin…"
"Watch who you're calling worse, beeyotch!" Elias lashed out.
"Bella, my least favorite cousin. Don't you have anything better to do than be jealous of hot Italian Gryffindors?" Sirius's eyes narrowed.
"Got a new addition to the Marauders, Sirius? You must be getting desperate; you've never let girls in before." Rodolphus asked Sirius snidely.
Elias stepped up. "Back off, Slytherins. You may have more people in your crowd, but numbers don't win wars. And Raven?" Her twin looked up. "Never knew you would get yourself in with this crowd. Good luck while they destroy you."
Elias walked into the Great Hall, pulling her hair into low ponytails.
As James past the Slytherins, he muttered, "Don't mess with the Gryffindor beeyotch."
Narcissa let out a bark of laughter as the rest of the Marauders continued in, and turned to Raven. "They're pathetic, aren't they? Sirius, my cousin, and Andromeda, my own sister, in that house. Blood traitors and mudbloods, the lot of them."
Seth shook his head, the blue tips of his hair falling into his eyes, and his clear voice started singing (and, of course, the others joined in):
"You want sexy?
We've got sexy!
You want hot?
That's what we've got!
We've got style, we've got class,
If you're a Gryffindor, we'll kick your ass!
SOUND OFF!"
"Seth!"
"Bella!"
"Rodolphus!"
"Lucius!"
"Narcissa!"
"Gerard!"
"Raven!"
"YEAH!"
The Slytherin Royalty Squad burst out laughing and sat down at their table.
Raven finished laughing and said, breathless, "That sounded really rehearsed…"
"We've been practicing it forever," Seth told her.
"We spent a whole Potions class passing a note around 'till we had, like, seven verses, but now we just shorten it to the first verse and the last part." Narcissa smiled and grabbed the hot cereal, looked at it forlornly, then set it back.
"Uh, Cissa?" Bella asked, raising a dark eyebrow.
"Uh-huh?" Narcissa said sadly, looking at her older sister.
"How long has it been since you ate?"
"Well, I had butterbeer last night…"
"No, ate."
Narcissa blushed. "I th-think it's been since breakfast two days ago…"
Seth, Bella, Lucius, and Rodolphus all groaned.
Seth looked pleadingly at Narcissa. "You've gotta eat more, you look absolutely stunning, you don't need to be any thinner."
"You said yourself, Seth, heroin chic is in, and I'm not that thin." Narcissa pouted, grabbed a carrot and nibbled on it. "There, happy?"
Lucius shook his head and piled food on his own plate, and Seth shrugged and put gravy on a biscuit.
Seth, Gerard, Lucius, and Rodolphus walked to the boy's bathroom.
"SO what do you think of Raven?" Gerard asked casually
"She's very pretty."
"Hopefully Narcissa won't rub off any stupidity on her," Rodolphus muttered.
Lucius frowned at him. "Now, don't go insulting your future sister-in-law. She may not be the most effective curse in the book, but she's got her own ways of staying in Royalty."
"Sounds like you've been doing some serious research on Ms. Black," Gerard snickered.
Lucius glared at the drummer, who recoiled and opened the door to a stall in the bathroom.
"How could she even do that!" Elias spat as the marauders sat down at the Gryffindor table
"Oh, calm down. If your sister's in that crowd, she won't be bothering us."
James said, trying to cheer her up.
"I have an announcement. The Slytherin Quidditch Team tryouts will be held tonight after lessons." McGonagall shouted. "The Gryffindor Quidditch Team tryouts will be held at the same time on the other side of the pitch. Thank you." She sat back down.
"You any good at Quidditch, Elias?" Sirius asked, as he stuffed his face. She swallowed.
"Yes, I'd say I was a fair player, why do you ask?"
"Then come to the tryouts." Elias sent him a bland look.
"Noooo, of course I wasn't planning on it. No dip, Sherlock, I played back at the prep school."
"Elias, is Raven any good at Quidditch?" Peter asked timidly.
"She played Seeker back at Resemt." Elias nodded and reached for the potatoes Remus was holding. He pulled them away defensively and spooned more onto his plate, shooting glances at Elias. Elias raised an eyebrow at him then looked at him with an "are-you-fricking-for-real" look on her face. Sirius noticed and his eyebrows went up.
"Remus, give the lady the potatoes." Remus shot a look at Sirius.
Sirius returned it. Remus reluctantly gave Elias the potatoes. She took them and sent a perplexed look at him before putting potatoes on her plate. James sent an apologetic look at Elias then said to Remus, "Maybe we should take a walk, Moony. Just a little one, Okay?" Remus looked at his lap.
"I don't want to."
"I know you don't want to, but walking builds character."
"I hate character." James looked at Remus sternly.
"Come on, Remus." Remus sulkily got up and walked beside James until they were out of the Great Hall.
Sirius and Elias looked at each other and started talking at the same time. They paused. Sirius nodded. "You first." She obliged"What was that?"
Sirius smiled gently. "Remus has… mood swings. Once a month- much like PMS, if you need something to relate it to but he's a little more sulky and disagreeable than hormonal. He gets defensive about the littlest things- like you wanted the potatoes, and he wasn't done, so he refused to give it to you. Remus doesn't even like potatoes that much." Sirius looked at Peter briefly.
"We don't know exactly why he does it, but we've gotten used to it. He just needs a little prodding, and he goes to his special place- remind me to show you that sometime or have him show it to you- and it gets him back to normal. It's all over after one day- he acts like he has a hangover for a day or two, and then is completely normal again."
Elias stared at her plate. "That is odd. He's a completely normal guy."
Sirius nodded. "He's one of my best friends, and one of James's. I don't know why he does it."