Disclaimer: Here I am again, and I'm still without owning rights of Harry Potter. Oh well, at least I can still write about it.
In the hallway, Rebecca headed toward Gryffindor Tower to get the books she would need for her other classes. Lily was held up by the Marauders, so Rebecca was yet again alone. Alice and Frank had gone straight to the Great Hall for lunch. Rebecca stopped outside the portrait of the fat lady, looked up at her, and Rebecca's mind went blank.
"What's the password?" she thought. "What is the password?" Her face twisted in thought as she stood there trying to remember the password.
"Forgot the password?" a voice asked from behind her.
Rebecca looked up into green-blue eyes, "Um… yeah, I did."
Remus smiled. "Fortuna Major," he spoke to the portrait.
The lady swung open revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Rebecca stepped through, followed by Remus.
"Thanks," Rebecca replied as the portrait swung closed.
"No problem. Skipping lunch or are you just getting different books?" he asked with a smile.
"Getting books, although, I'm not that hungry, I might just stay up here and read through my History and Ancient Runes," she replied.
"Skipping lunch is never a good thing, and you never have to read History, because he goes over it in class, and I bet you'll be fine in Ancient Runes, because he'll probably start out with something from last year just to get you back into it," Remus replied.
"Oh, well then, perhaps I'll look at Astronomy and Defense Against the Dark Arts," Rebecca suggested to herself.
"I have an idea," Remus replied. Rebecca looked at him from the stairwell. "How about, you go get your books, then, meet me back here and we both go eat lunch."
"I-I don't know. I'm-I-I-uh…" she began.
"Just meet me down here within the next five minutes," Remus replied, then went up to his dorm to get his books. Rebecca stood there for a minute in shock, then she raced up to her dorm to get her books, hoping to beat Remus back down and out of the common room, before he could entrap her into going to lunch with him.
Rebecca never ate lunch with anyone. In fact, most days, she didn't eat lunch; she was normally in the library or the common room working or studying. The thought of actually going to eat lunch with someone, especially that someone being one of the Marauders, seriously scared her.
However, fate was not kind. Rebecca reached the bottom of the stairs to see Remus waiting by the bulletin board. He turned around when he heard her come down the steps.
"Ready?" he asked politely. Rebecca swallowed and nodded. Then she followed Remus out of the room and down to the Great Hall, speaking minimally all the way.
Once they reached the Great Hall, Remus lead the way to the Gryffindor table where the infamous Marauders were all seated.
"Hey, Moony!" James greeted his friend as he approached the table.
"Hey. I found this lovely maiden all by herself and asked her to join us for lunch. Do you mind?" Remus said as he stepped to the side to reveal Rebecca.
"It's okay, really. I have other things to do. I don't want to intrude or anything," Rebecca spoke quickly.
"No, it's no problem, really. Please sit down," Sirius replied.
"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to be any trouble or anything," she continued, trying to find a way out.
"You know, Padfoot, it sounds to me like she doesn't want to sit with us," James stated.
Sirius turned to his friend, "You know, Prongs, I think you're right. It does sound like she doesn't want to sit with us."
"Oh, no! It's not that, it's just I-" Rebecca began.
"Then sit down," Remus replied.
Rebecca finally obliged, "Okay." She sat down next to Remus timidly.
"You're very tense," Peter stated.
"I'm just not use to being randomly asked to eat lunch with someone," she replied.
Remus smiled, "Well, if you want to be an Auror, you'll have to get use to doing things you wouldn't normally do, don't you?"
Rebecca looked up from her plate, "Well, I-I guess so."
Sirius cocked an eyebrow, "What happened to the 'Miss I Know Everything' that was in Transfiguration this morning? You sure seem a lot less confident at the moment."
Rebecca looked at him, "I'm only really confident when I'm positive that I know the answer and when I know the answer is correct. Otherwise, I'm really quiet and keep my mouth shut."
"So, why do you skip lunch sometimes?" Remus asked, feeling the need to change the subject.
"Well, I guess, I'm just not hungry some days," Rebecca replied, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
"What's your name?" James asked, interrupting Remus' train of thought.
Rebecca looked up at him confused, "Excuse me?"
"I asked you what your name is," James repeated.
"Oh, um, my name is Rebecca Sanders," she replied.
"Rebecca? Is it always Rebecca?" Sirius asked. She nodded.
"How about Becca or Bec or something?" Peter suggested.
Rebecca shook her head, "It's always been Rebecca, nothing else. I don't really like anything else either."
"Why so formal?" James asked.
"I don't know. I've just always gone by Rebecca," she said shrugging her shoulders.
"Well, I'm going to call you Becky," Sirius stated.
Rebecca looked at him and started choking on a piece of her sandwich. Once she could breathe again she looked at him incredulously, "What did you say?"
Sirius laughed, "Becky. I said I'm going to call you Becky. Is there a problem?"
"I like that name actually," James commented. "In fact, I like it so much that the four of us are going to call you Becky."
Rebecca sat in shock for a moment, then she turned to Sirius, "You're serious?"
"Why yes. I am Sirius, Sirius Black, but shouldn't you know this?" he replied a mischievous smirk on his face.
Rebecca rolled her eyes, "Yes, I know, but are you really going to call me… Becky?"
The Marauders looked at each other, then turned to her and replied with a unanimous, "Yes."
Rebecca was horrified. Not only had she been forced to come eat lunch with the four most infamous students in the whole of Hogwarts, but they had also decided to give her the worst nickname that she could think of in the history of all mankind. How was she going to deal with this?
"I really don't think that's a good idea," she finally stated.
Remus looked at her, "Why not?"
"Well, I-I just don't think it's a good idea," she replied. Then deciding she needed to leave, she looked at her watch. "You know what; I told a friend I'd meet her. I've got to go. I'll see you in class I guess." Then she quickly grabbed her things and left, heading to the girls bathroom to clear her head. Once she was gone, the Marauders looked at each other.
"She's very quiet isn't she?" James commented.
"Yes, she is," Sirius replied. "She wasn't going to meet a friend either."
Remus nodded, "I agree. There's something odd about her."
"Why do you think she left so fast?" Peter inquired.
"I'm not sure, but I thin- Evans!" James lost his train of thought. Lily Evans walked past the Marauders ignoring them.
"Evans come here! I've got a question," James called out again.
Lily turned around, "The answer is no. I'm not going to date you, Potter. Not now, not ever."
"That's not what I was going to ask," James replied. "Just come sit down a minute."
Lily sighed, knowing this was some plot to get her to say yes to James Potter, but that would never happen. However, she sat down next to Remus, "What do you want, Potter?"
"Well, what I really want is for you to realize what a big mistake you're making by refusing me, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about right now," James said, giving her his best smile. "Right now, I want to know what the deal with your roomie, Becky, is."
Lily looked at him confused, "Becky? I'm not rooming with a Becky."
"Rebecca Sanders," Remus explained. "Dumbledore said we had to get to know our classmates and possible fellow Aurors."
"Rebecca or Becky as we so affectionately have decided to call her, happens to be one of those possible fellow Aurors," Sirius cut in.
"She seems really nice. There's just something kind of… off," Peter spoke up.
"So, we were wondering if you knew what the deal is," James finished.
Lily looked at them in contemplation for a minute then she leaned in, "Okay, I'll tell you what I know and nothing more. Anything else you want to know, you'll have to figure out yourselves. Okay?" The Marauders nodded. Lily took a breath, "Alright. What I know about Rebecca is that she is very shy, but she's really smart. I don't think she's got a lot of friends. She's always doing work and she doesn't go to Hogsmeade or Quidditch games very often. She's always reading, and she always sits in that one corner of the common room that nobody ever sits in, because it's back and tucked away. She keeps to herself a lot and as far as I can tell, she likes things that way. Otherwise, that's all I know. I have to get to class anyway, so I'll see you later." Lily stood up and left the four young ruffians mulling over this new found information.
Finally, Sirius spoke up, "I think we should make her our project."
A/N: Okay, you've now read chapter four. Hopefully I've got you hooked by now, but unless you review, I will assume otherwise. Review and let me know. I'm open to suggestions, ideas, constructive criticism, etc… just review, please. Thanks!