CHAPTER 3: The Marauders
A week had passed since they first arrived at Hogwarts, Evangeline found that she loved this castle already. She mostly hung out with Lily or James, Remus and Peter but since James and Lily couldn't get along for even a minute she was forced to spend time with them separately. Sirius Black was still alone, he avoided everyone and seemed to be depressed about being put in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. Evangeline had no idea why, what she had seen of the Slytherin they weren't exactly the nice bunch. At the moment she was sitting in potions class, James on her right side and Remus on her left. Lily had braided her long blonde hair in the morning, it was easier than having it loose.
"Okay children, today I will split you into couples and you will work on a potion together, listen as I read the list" Professor Slughorn said as he begun reading off the list.
"James Potter together with Alaric Nott" James grimaced as he was paired up with an evil looking Slytherin.
"Lily Evans with Remus Lupin" He said, Lily sent Remus a kind smile and James glared at him. Evangeline couldn't help to laugh at James's glare.
"Severus Snape together with Peter Pettigrew" Evangeline looked at Peter and gave him an encouragement smile, he really was uncertain about himself. She glanced over at Severus Snape who looked a bit disgusted at the thought of working with Peter.
"Evangeline Moore with Sirius Black" Slughorn said, Evangeline didn't mind much. Sure he was not the nicest person in their house but she didn't know him so she couldn't actually judge him, could she. She picked up her books and walked over to where the boy was sitting. He looked up at her and then quickly looked down again. She placed her books on the table before sitting down next to him. She extended her hand.
"Hi, I'm Evangeline" she said kindly, he took her hand and shook it.
"Sirius" He answered shortly before looking down into the potions book. Evangeline did the same. She went over to pick out the ingredients. James was there as well. He glanced back at Sirius and then at Evangeline
"Sorry you got stuck with that prick Angel" he said to her, Evangeline frowned.
"James you do not know him so you would not know if he is prick or not" she pointed out, James rolled his eyes.
"Well his surname is Black, isn't it?" he pointed out, this time Evangeline rolled her eyes.
"James you can not judge someone by their surname, he obviously fitted into Gryffindor for some reason and I don't think you should judge before you've actually spoken a word with him!" she exclaimed in a whisper before returning to the table. They started preparing the potion in silence. Evangeline had found that she quite liked potions.
"I'm guessing you are of magical blood?" Evangeline asked him, he nodded.
"Yes" he answered shortly but that didn't make Evangeline give up.
"I hope you do not get offended by this question, but are your family concerned about all that pureblood nonsense?" she asked, he blushed very slightly, looking down at the table.
"Yes" he answered shortly, she looked at him with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Do you believe that as well?" she asked, he looked up at her and then shook his head.
"No I don't, I think it's quite ridiculous" he answered her, a wide grin spread over her lips.
"Then Sirius, I think we could be friends" she said with a smile, he looked up at her with a small smile.
"You don't seem to like being in Gryffindor?" Evangeline questioned him, he looked at her with grey eyes once again.
"Well no one in my family have ever been sorted into Gryffindor, it was shocking to everyone." Sirius told her, she nodded.
"Yeah I noticed that at the welcome feast" she said, he nodded slowly.
"Plus all the Gryffindor's have prejudices against me already, only because of my last name" he told her, she wanted to protest but she knew it was the sad truth.
"Well I don't, to me you are only Sirius Black, one of my housemates and one I consider to be a friend" she said, Sirius gave her a genuine smile, she noticed that his eyes were not cold and grey but warm and loving.
"Thanks Evangeline, it is nice to finally have a friend here" Sirius said, Evangeline frowned at the use of her full name.
"Please do not call me Evangeline" she asked him, he chuckled before looking at her once again.
"What shall I call you then?" he asked with an amused grin. She shrugged.
"You can pretty much call me anything but Evangeline. My brother uses Evie most of the time, others call me Eva or Eve, James, Remus and Peter call me Angel. You are welcome to use any of them" she said with a smile, he nodded thoughtfully.
"I think I prefer Angel, it suites you well" he said with a grin, Evangeline couldn't help to laugh.
"That is exactly what James told me" She explained, he grinned at her and they continued working on their potion.
"How was it working with that prick in potions Angel?" James asked her while they sat at the Gryffindor table at lunch that same day. Remus sighed at James's stubbornness with calling that Black guy a prick. Remus being a half-blood of course knew about the Black family but he had nothing against this particular Black. Evangeline slapped James on the arm.
"How many times have I told you not to judge him before you've met him James!" she exclaimed at him.
"By the way it was a good time working with him, he is polite, nice and does not share his family's values" she told James, right then she spotted Sirius sitting alone down the table.
"Hey Sirius, why don't you come and sit here" she called to him, Sirius looked at her with a smile but noticed James, Remus and Peter sitting by her side and seemed uncertain. She waved in encouragement for him to come. He rose from his seat and moved towards them. He sat down opposite to Evangeline, which placed him next to Peter.
"James, Remus and Peter let me introduce my friend Sirius Black, Sirius this is James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew" she introduced them, both Remus and Peter greeted Sirius quite friendly. When James didn't say hello, Evangeline elbowed him in the ribs making him extend his hand to Sirius. Sirius took it and shook it. At first there was a slight awkward silence but Evangeline quickly managed to resolve that problem by starting a discussion about the wizard sport called quidditch, all of the boys liked the sport and that got them talking. Evangeline smiled as she noticed that Sirius got along great with all the guys. She looked around and saw Lily, Cassandra and Alice sitting a couple of meters away.
"I'll be back in a bit guys" she said before standing up and walking towards the girls. All three of them smiled as she sat down. Lily glanced at the boys.
"I do not understand how you can put up with them, Remus is the only decent one in the bunch" Lily declared, Alice and Cassandra nodded in agreement. Evangeline smiled fondly at the thought of her friends.
"They are nice once you get to know them, yeah sure James is a bit arrogant but still he is a good friend" Evangeline defended her friends. The other girls laughed lightly.
"One who is not so nice though is Lucius Malfoy and his cronies, I can't believe how rude they actually are" Cassandra complained, the others nodded in agreement.
"Yeah they sure are rude, their new hobby seems to be pestering us" Lily said, Alice sighed.
"The only thing they care about is how pure your blood are according to them, it's all such nonsense" Alice said. Evangeline could do nothing but agree with her. She realized that she would be late if she didn't hurry up, she needed to go to their common room and grab a book before heading to transfiguration. She stood up from the table, said goodbyes to the girls before walking out of the Great Hall and through the corridors. Suddenly she heard voices behind her, she glanced back and saw four Slytherins walking there. She recognized one of them as Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Black was there as well. When they saw her, they picked up their pace, when she noticed this she started walking faster as well. Suddenly she was hit by a spell from behind, she fell to the floor, hitting her head as she fell. She turned around and saw the Slytherins approaching her, she guessed that it was Lucius who had hit her with the spell since he had his wand out.
"Isn't it our darling little mudblood" Lucius snarled, all except Narcissa laughed at the comment. Evangeline glared at him.
"Do not call me that, I am of the same blood as you are!" she responded, Lucius slapped her.
"Do not dare to say that we are the same your filth" he snarled at her, as he bent down and spit her in the face.
"Hey you Slytherin punks, leave her alone!" some older Gryffindors came storming down the hall. Lucius and the others immediately fled. Evangeline slowly sat up, holding a hand to her head. Two of the Gryffindors hurried over to here, helping her off the floor. Evangeline could feel that she had gotten a bloody nose but the headache was the worst at the moment.
"How are you doing, want us to bring you to the Hospital Wing?" one of them asked, Evangeline looked up at him. He had dark brown hair with brown kind eyes, the boy beside him looked the same.
"I'm Gideon and this is my brother Fabian" the one that had asked about the Hospital Wing. She smiled at them.
"I'm Evangeline, thank you so much for your help" she said as she stood up. Both Gideon and Fabian smiled at her.
"No worries, always glad to help out a housemate" Gideon said with a huge grin. Fabian glanced at the other Gryffindors.
"You guys go to charms, we'll get her back to the common room" he told them, the others nodded and left while Gideon picked the young girl up in his arms.
"There is no need to carry me, I can still walk" Evangeline protested, Gideon shook his head.
"No need, your knight in shinning armor is here to save you" he pointed out with an amused smirk, as they walked towards the Gryffindor common room. Evangeline had the feeling that she had made new friends.
Evangeline sat together with Lily, Cassandra and Alice the next morning. She hadn't seen any of the guys this morning. They had all been quite upset last night when they found out what the Slytherins had done to her. They had told her that they would get revenge on them, she had asked them not do but she suspected that it didn't matter.
"Where are the boys?" Alice questioned her, Evangeline shrugged.
"I really don't know" she answered and just as she had said that, the boys walked into the Great Hall. Just as they had sat down, there was a loud noise by the Slytherin table. The girls all looked over there and couldn't stop themselves from bursting out laughing. Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Black as well as the other Slytherins that had been there when Lucius hurt Evangeline. Their hair was now scarlet with streaks of gold in it. All of them were dressed in tiny scarlet dresses with a pair of matching gold high heels. They were dancing on top of the table, but it wasn't off free will. Suddenly a lots of fireworks started exploding in the Great Hall forming a message that read: This is a warning to all, do not hurt an Angel or there will be consequences. You have been warned. / The Marauders.
Everyone in the Hall was buzzing about who these Marauders might be. Some talked about Gideon and Fabian Prewett but they denied that it was them. Evangeline smiled lovingly as she walked towards the four boys.
"It was you guys, wasn't it?" she asked them, all four of them nodded proudly. James slung an arm around her shoulders.
"Couldn't let anyone mess with our Angel, could we?" he said with a grin as all five of them sat down for breakfast together. Evangeline smiled at her good friends, she was lucky to have found them.