"In life we all have an unspeakable secret, an irreversible regret, an unreachable dream and an unforgettable love."
Diego Marchi
Goldfish Impressions
"Hello James"
James' mouth dropped open, disbelief radiating from him
First impressions and goldfish boys
James' mouth dropped open, disbelief radiating from him. The entire common room went silent in concern: never in Hogwarts' history had James Potter actually been speechless.
After a few minutes later, when his silence was quite obviously not going to change the girl spoke with a mixture of concern and mock annoyance lacing her voice, "James breath, it helps with the whole staying alive thing".
James ignored her, continuing to gape like a goldfish. For a moment he seemed to recover himself, looking obviously uncomfortable,
"Wh-what are you doing here?"
He watched as the girl took her turn to look awkward,
"Well it's a long story," she stammered studying her shoes, "but for now let's just say that Aunt Margret has finally given up on me attending Beauxbatons"
"You only went back two days ago!"
"As I said; it's a long story. Best saved for when you're next in need entertainment" James raised his eyebrows a grin playing across his handsome face,
"Lucinda Amirah Charlotte Potter" he mocked in a falsely disapproving voice, "Have you been causing trouble again?"
"Me?" she exclaimed her hand flying to her chest in mock out-rage, "I am, and always have been, an utter angel James Potter". An identical smiled cracked over her face.
"Ahem" coughed Remus who was still standing, open mouthed, watching the siblings talk. Sirius and Peter, who had abandoned his homework to see what was going on, stood beside him wearing similar surprised faces.
"You going to introduce us then?" asked Sirius smiling briefly at Lucinda.
"Oh right yeah…" muttered James gesturing at his sister, "Guys this is Lucinda, my little sister"
"Lucy," she corrected, "I can't stand Lucinda. And I'm not so little now."
James looked down at her under raised eyebrows, she still only reached his nose.
"You're a year younger than me, and a midget- that makes you little!"
Lucy pouted at him whilst the three boys continued to gape.
"I didn't know you had a sister" stated Peter, matter of factly. James looked at his feet guiltily and Lucy smiled at Peter kindly. He was shorter than the rest, not much taller than her, with sandy blonde hair and dull blue eyes. His front teeth protruded slightly, causing him to look slightly rodent-like.
The pale boy standing next to him shook his head apologetically. "You'll have to excuse Peter, tact isn't his strong point," he said, "What he means to say is: nice to meet you"
Lucy continued to smile, "You must be Remus, right?" Remus nodded looking surprised, "From what James has said, you'd be the only one who'd apologise for anything without an obvious prompt"
Remus smiled as James felt blood rush to his face. He coughed waving a hand in Sirius' direction.
"Luc this is Sirius" Black made a low mock bow in the form of a greeting.
"Padfoot please", he said. Lucy giggled, curtseying in reply.
"We've met, briefly" she said, "before he knocked me to the floor"
Sirius grinned foolishly, "I am sorry about that, not how I usually go for girls- I promise"
"I can hardly hold it against you; I nearly got you detention" said Lucy biting her lip nervously.
"Nah, I reckon old Minnie has a soft spot for us Marauders" mused Sirius looking very proud of himself. Remus snorted uncharacteristically loudly, the others turning to him in surprise, "yeah she must love us to bits with all the detentions she's given us over the years!"
They all chuckled at the thought of McGonagall being attached to anybody, let alone a group of mischief makers as famous as the marauders.
The laughter eventually died leaving a slow silence. Lucy looked around the common room, suddenly nervous. "It's been nice to finally meet the famous marauders" she said sincerely looking at each of them in turn, "but I suppose I'd better get to bed"
The four boys nodded their agreement muttering how nice it was to meet her, wishing her pleasant dreams etc but none of them moved.
"I'm supposed to have been met by some girl called Evans; she's one of my room mates. D'you know her?"
The marauders exchanged knowing looks, finally resting their gazes on James, who fidgeted awkwardly again. It was a well known fact that he, the famous prankster, had fancied Lily Evans since their first day at Hogwarts. But, despite his enthusiastic attempts, she was still refusing to go out with him. This was one of the last things he wanted his sister to know about!
"Yeah we know her," said Peter, "She's alright: most of the time"
"One of the nicest people I know in fact" confirmed James.
"Complete goody-goody of course," added Sirius throwing an affectionate grin towards Remus, "but then again she is a prefect".
"That's not fair! Not all of us…" retorted Remus, failing to suppress a grin.
"Are you Potter?" came a voice from the foot of the dormitory stairs. There stood a tall, slim red head, her emerald eyes gleaming in the firelight. James turned his head, arrogance instantly rising up in his body, in an attempt to hide the fact that he was trembling slightly.
"Oh come on Evans," he said complacently, "after 5 years together I would have thought you'd remember my name…"
"Shut up Potter, you know I wasn't talking to you!"
Lucy raised her eyebrows, shocked at her brother's sudden change in personality. When did he become so cocky? Was he really trying flirt?! She had always known him to be confident, her brave big brother, but she'd never have called him arrogant before. But this is what she saw, or at least what he wanted her to see. Although she still couldn't help but notice that his hands were shaking, he was scared?
She turned away from the Marauders, feeling slightly angry that somebody could do this to him. He had always protected her from everything, she'd idolised him as a child, and she didn't like what this Evans girl had just turned him into.
"I'm Potter," she said. Her voice was clearer and more confident the usual, every letter pronounced more harshly than she had meant them to be. But the Evans girl didn't seem to have noticed.
"If you grab your things I'll show you to our room" she said plainly. Lucy turned back to the Marauders, smiling weakly, "Night then". They all gave her reassuring smiles; Evans was in prefect mode so she wasn't going to be particularly hospitable- especially to a Potter.
Lucy levitated her trunk again and turned to follow the red-head up the spiral stair case, squeezing James' shoulder as she walked past.
Lucy entered the dormitory amidst a number of curious, somewhat bleary-eyed, stares. Evans allocated her the spare bed, next to the arched window, and helped her shove her trunk underneath her bed. The sheer relief of being able to put down her heavy trunk and get changed relieved he anger.
"Thanks Evans" Lucy said gratefully as she sat on the edge of her bed, "Sorry about James earlier, I've never seen him act like that before"
Evans looked confused at an apology; she'd expected Lucy to be exactly like James: an arrogant trouble maker.
She certainly looked similar, they shared the same ears, the same almond shaped eyes, the same mischievous grin that she had give the Marauders before following her up the stairs. Although, she had to admit she was extremely pretty. Lily had always been renound as one of the year's natural beauties, her colouring matching her features perfectly, but now she could see she'd have competition. Potter's hair was a lighter shade than James', a deep chocolate brown rather than black, and her crystal blue eyes sparkled brightly, lighting up her pale, milky complexion.
Despite the similarities the Potters had they couldn't appear to be more different, so far Lucy had only been polite. A Potter had actually apologised to her!
"Lily" she said kindly.
"Sorry?" asked Lucy
"Call me Lily" she repeated, smiling nervously.
Lucy returned the smile, leaning over to Lily and shaking her hand briefly.
"A Pleasure to meet you Lily," she said, trying to suppress a giggle at the look on Lily's face, "I'm Lucy, not Lucinda. Not Potter either. Just Lucy"
The two girls began to talk casually, whilst Lucy unpacked; Lily curled up on her bed. By the time they had realised what time it was the two were good friends, as though they had known each other for years. Both held a lot of importance in their good grades, distaste for blood prejudices and a love for all the usual girlie things, shopping and chocolate being the priority.
Lily had pointed to the other girls they shared a dormitory with, three forth years and three fifth years. Mary (one of Lily's closer friends) and Cassandra were the only ones still awake. It had only taken a few minutes but Lucy knew that they were not going to get on. Cassandra seemed to be under the impression that she was better than the rest of the other girls; huffing and puffing about their noise, mess and generally barking out orders whenever she pleased.
She, Lily informed Lucy at a low whisper, was a gossip: the bitch of the year group. It was obvious, just by the way Lily spoke that she didn't like to bitch about others often. Well not her "friends" anyway. Lucy smiled as she was told this, glancing up at Cassandra who was lying across her bed, examining her peroxide blonde hair in a hand mirror and pouting at her reflection. She had known girls like this in Beauxbatons; she knew exactly how to handle them. She told Lily some of the methods that the French used to cure vanity, making her giggle uncontrollably. The rebellious concept of sabotaging Cassandra's life was undoubtedly amusing. Lily loved a well executed prank as much as anyone: contrary to the popular belief of the Marauders and the rest of the school.
Lucy grinned at Lily's excited expression; this girl seems like fun she mused. When she finally lay down in her own bed, Lucy went to sleep feeling far less anxious about her exchange to Hogwarts.
Lucy walked slowly up the spiral staircase, her trunk following her obediently at her ankles. The Marauders watched her go, unsure how to break the awkward silence that had settled amongst them.
"So…" ventured Sirius, he couldn't stand awkward silences and he could see James was suffering.
"You have a sister," offered Remus, picking up on Sirius' motives.
James nodded meekly, how could he explain why he couldn't tell them about her before? Should he tell them everything, or would that mean betraying his sister?
"Guys I'm sorry, I…" his voice trailed off, words caught on his tongue.
"We're not judging mate" reassured Remus, "We're just a little surprised you didn't mention her that's all; I mean a sibling is usually one of the first things that you talk about"
James smiled nervously, "She was…ages ago now, I wasn't…" he stuttered, than he sighed, "things were complicated in my family when we were younger, my great aunt made her go to Beauxbatons a year early and I went off to Hogwarts."
Sirius rested a hand on his friend's shoulder, "you don't need to explain Prongs" he said gently, "yet".
With a huge yawn from Peter, the quartet climbed the spiral staircase and went to bed.
A/N: Well I hope you're enjoying this so far; I wrote he last three chapters a LONG time ago but my writing styles improved since then. Things will pick up some pace in a shortwhile, so hang about until then won't you?
Ooh, Lucy's middle names have quite a bit of impact on the rest of the story. Just something to bare in mind
Thanks to mystakenidentity and madeofawsomeness for your reviews! How about the rest of you join them? ;)
Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, but I'm working on it...