Again, I own nothing. It's all J.K.R.'s
Chapter two: Strange pranks and stranger introductions
I zoned out for most of breakfast. I nodded when I should, I smiled when it was expected, but didn't say a single word. Not one. I couldn't. I mean, here I was, eating with a kid whose future I knew and was trying to change. Not only that, but I had only read about him as an adult, so I didn't really know what to expect from him as a kid. He was nice. Much more laid back than he was in the book. Or would be. Or something. He was mostly talking to the girl across from him, which gave me another shock. She had red hair and green eyes. Lily Potter. Of course, here she was Lily Evans, which just made things that much weirder. They seemed to realize I was a bit out of it, though they probably thought it was from my surroundings, so they let me be. I finally 'woke up' to a loud bang by the doors and loud laughter from the rest of the students. I didn't really understand the joke at first. It was just a girl. Albeit, a rather ugly girl, but still. Then she spoke.
"POTTER!" Now I understood! It was a boy's voice that was yelling. He seemed to realize that James Potter wasn't in the room, because he then turned on Remus, who was stifling his laughter in his hands.
"WHERE IS HE LUPIN? I KNOW YOU KNOW AND WHEN I FIND HIM I'LL-"
"I don't know where he is, Snape. I suggest you look elsewhere, as he is obviously not here," Remus cut him off. Snape stormed out. Snape. SNAPE! This was, without a doubt, the craziest day of my life. And just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder, two boys whom I could only assume were Sirius Black and James Potter walked in. They were laughing and nudging each other so much that they didn't even notice me. I know this because Sirius, assuming my seat was empty, sat on me.
"Bloody hell!" he yelped, jumping up and whirling around to face me, "Who are you?" I opened my mouth to answer, but Remus beat me to it.
"Honestly, Sirius, you should pay attention once in a while. Then maybe you wouldn't sit on strangers." Then he turned to me, "You'll have to excuse my friend. He's completely bonkers." I laughed, and went to reply, but was, once again, cut off.
"But who is she, Remy?" Sirius whined.
"She's a transfer, and if you were here on time, you would know that, now sit down, you're attracting attention." Lily snapped. I looked curiously to James, realizing he hadn't spoken yet, and noticed he was staring at Lily. Aww! How cute! She, however, didn't seem to think so, because when she noticed, she glared at him.
Sirius pulled James down onto the bench, then squeezed in between Remus and me.
"But why is she dressed so funny?" He asked. My mouth dropped open in shock. Wow, there goes my self esteem.
"Sirius!" Remus reprimanded, "Some subtlety would be nice! We don't even know where she's from, who knows how they dress where she lives."
"So, where are you from, then?" Sirius asked me. But yet again I was interrupted. Boy, I just couldn't get a word in edgewise today!
"Hey, guys!" a chubby looking boy panted, running up to them, "McGonagall hand out the schedules yet?"
"No, looks like she's doing that now." Remus replied, pointing down the table. Sure enough, a strict looking woman with a tight bun was handing out little pieces of paper, sorry, parchment, to the students. I only half noticed though. Peter. He looked so innocent. Sweet, almost. How could this boy, who looked like he could be beaten up by a child, betray his best friends, sentencing them to death? It just didn't make sense. And my reasoning skills were most defiantly NOT helped by the fact that Sirius was still staring at me.
"What?" I asked defiantly. They all turned to look at me now. "Sorry, but your friend here's kind of freaking me out. He's staring at me."
"I'm just wondering where you're from!" Sirius protested, as the others snickered lightly, "You haven't even told us your name!"
"Emily," I supplied, surprised at how easily the new name came forward, "I'm from the states. I just transferred here."
"You're from the states, huh? And do they all dress like that there, or are you just used to standing out?" Sirius asked with a smirk.
"I'll have you know this is relatively quiet compared to some people!" I said haughtily, but it was ruined by the laughter in my voice. He obviously wasn't impressed.
"Relatively being the operative word." He replied with a smirk.
"Sirius!" Remus scolded, "What's wrong with you? Be nice!" He wasn't taking it to seriously though. Everyone else was laughing. I really didn't mind.
"Miss Adder?" a voice asked from behind me. I nodded. "My name is Professor McGonagall, and I'm the head of Gryffindor house. If you could come with me, I will discuss your situation with you. Mister Lupin, if you would, please finish passing these out." Remus nodded, and I followed McGonagall out. She took me to her classroom, gave me my schedule and directions to the classes, and discussed the monthly meetings we would have. She gave me my extra textbooks as well. I would have to put in three hours a night for that alone to catch up! I decided to do it after curfew though, because I still wanted to experience everything else too. My first class was potions, so I gathered my stuff and left when we were done. As I rounded the corner, I ran into someone and papers went flying everywhere.
"Oh! Oh god, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you! Are you okay?" I cried.
"Yes, I'm fine." A boy who looked slightly familiar stood over me as I scrambled to pick up our papers.
"You could help." I told him, separating my papers from his.
"I could," he mused, smirking, "but you're doing such a good job."
"Thanks. Really, I'm so proud." I deadpanned, handing him back his papers. He laughed.
"You're the new girl, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm Emily." I supplied.
"Regulus." Oh God. Regulus, as in Regulus Black? Holy cow! I smiled to cover up my surprise, but I couldn't really hide my sudden nervousness. I hadn't read much about Regulus, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't like me much. It was a problem because when I get nervous, I babble. I don't even just babble, I babble so fast that no one can ever understand me.
"Well,itsreallynicetomeetyou,I'msorryIknockeddownyourpapers,Iwasjustonmywaytoclass,andI didn'tknowtheway,and-"
"Slow down, I don't bite!" he laughed, "no doubt the Gryffindors have already been filling your head with horror stories, but not all Slytherins are spawns of Satin." I laughed. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. He actually seemed nice. He even showed me to the potions classroom. It was just as J.K.R. described it, down to the portly man at the front. I'd forgotten Slughorn would be teaching potions. He was interesting. We were making the Draught of the Living Death that day, and he came over and helped me while the other students worked. We had decided to say that my old school had simply been behind, and I was catching up. It was true enough, and it kept other students from asking questions. Some of the Slytherins were nasty about it, but Regulus was always available to help me out. Apparently, he was also friends with Severus Snape, because that's how we met on my second day. I had asked Regulus for help with my potion, and he had gotten stuck too. He left for about twenty minutes, and came back with Severus.
"Hello," I said cautiously.
"This is why you dragged me down here? To meet your new friend? I really don't have time for this Regulus, I-"
"We need help with a potion, Sev. I wouldn't interrupt you for nothing. And anyway, it was just homework. You have all afternoon to do it!" Severus sighed, and then turned to me.
"What is it?" he asked, resignedly. I raised an eyebrow.
"Forget it, Reg, if mister high and mighty doesn't have time for the poor, little new girl, then I can figure this out on my own." I'm pretty stubborn sometimes, and I don't like being belittled. Now Severus rolled his eyes.
"Just tell me what you need help with."
"I don't need your help."
"Then why did you call me down here?"
"I didn't, Regulus did."
"Then why did he call me down here?"
"I don't know, why don't you ask him?"
"Just tell me already!"
"Say please." He paused, looking shocked, then smirked at me. I smiled innocently back.
"Please." He conceded. I laughed, and then showed him where we were stuck. It turns out he's actually pretty easy to get along with. We were even friends by the end of the day. And that's how it went for about three weeks. The Marauders did their own thing, so I mostly stayed to myself if I wasn't with Regulus or Severus. I was slow with some things, like transfiguration, but I could mostly figure everything out pretty quickly. I was enjoying the classes, and, after spending some time in the library, even figured out how to get my I-pod working (I practically live off of my music). It was a good enough routine, and it worked for a while. Then I messed up.