He was so different from his friends that a lot of the time he wanted to laugh aloud at the fact of it all. Most people would glance upon the four of them and wonder what he did to fit in with the most popular crowd in the school. It wasn't often considered that maybe he didn't have to do something to fit because he just naturally did. They were four different boys, and yes, he did differ the most of all, but that didn't make him an outcast.
James was bright, athletic, funny, and tall. He was born into a rich pureblood family that had been wishing for a child for the longest time and was raised as their miracle. He did not want for many things and the word "no" hardly found a place in his vocabulary. He was a charming boy who had a high confidence and an unwavering heart. He had always been proud of his father and aimed to be like him. The strong Gryffindor who did what was right even if it didn't always appear so. He loved his mother and grew up at her side, listening to the WWN and helping out the house elves. James Potter was idolized.
Sirius was the heartthrob with a broken past. He grew up in a family of blood purists and broke away from their teachings to be the rebel with a cause. He was aristocratically handsome with a boyish charm to make girls weak in their knees. Yes, he had some family issues, but what mattered to most of the girls in Hogwarts was that it in no way hindered his snogging capabilities. He had never held onto a long term relationship with a girl, and it was the hook that kept girls thinking that they might be the one to stick. Sirius Black was ogled.
Remus was the sweet, wearing sweaters and drinking tea, kind of guy. Girls liked his soft demeanor and it pulled them into him because who wouldn't want to surround herself with a boy like that? He could listen and give real advice, he was smart and not afraid to tutor, he had a gentle smile with a bouncing happiness beneath the tired complexion. Remus was who people liked to hang around with. Popular for just his personality and admired for being himself. It was no trouble at all to see that Remus Lupin was loved.
Then there was him. Peter. When people looked at him, they just saw the chubby fourth boy who didn't have much on display. No one could know from glancing upon him that he was the glue that held the Marauders together when they were fighting. No one would see that he gave the best advice, or that he was best at keeping secrets. No one knew that while he struggled in some of his studies, he was best out of all of them at healing charms. Peter Pettigrew was many things, but what he mostly was, was ignored.
She hadn't noticed him at first, but she did now. It wasn't romantic and it never would be, but they had something. Peter could keep secrets, and she needed someone who would help her and keep quiet. When she was attacked in fourth year on a trip to Hogsmeade, Peter had been the one to find her in the alleyway behind Gladrags. He was the one who healed the small scrapes and bruises before helping her to her feet and bringing her to Madam Pomfrey. He had helped to heal her emotionally too, but he didn't know that.
Peter remembered that day well, but he didn't think on it much because it made him too angry. Marlene had always had a small frame. She was such a cheery and bubbly girl. Marlene had been dragged into the alley and beat for being a "blood-traitor." She was only fifteen and didn't even realize how much her family's political stance defined her. She had been so closed off after it happened. She had been so scared when Peter came into the alley and found her bloodied and bruised, clothes torn, arms curled protectively around herself and water droplets slipping from her tear ducts. She wouldn't let him near her until she was sure of who he was and she kept him at wandpoint while he tried to clean her up as much as possible. Small she may be, but she was at least three times that in strength.
They became friends after that. He had brought her through a secret passage so that no one would be staring at her on her way back to the safety of the castle's walls. She would never forget how careful he had been with her. How protective. He had saved her and while in the future he would become unrecognizable in his Death Eater robes, she would never stop thinking of him as that sweet boy who had half-carried her to the hospital wing.
"Peter, my one and only love. How are you, dear?" Marlene threw herself down next to Peter on the couch in the common room, blonde hair flying out around her as she fell to the cushions.
Peter wiped the tendrils off of his face with a laugh and held out a bag of licorice wands to her as he responded, "Tired and bored. I don't want to go finish my homework."
"Ahh, makes sense, that does," Marlene pulled a wand from the bag and chomped off the top of it. "I'm also avoiding coursework. There is no way I'm working on Sprout's paper tonight. I don't care. It's too much."
"You never work on Sprout's assignments. I don't get why you even wanted to take the dumb course to begin with."
Marlene hit Peter's forearm with the second half of her licorice before finishing it off, "Herbology is a brilliant subject, excuse you. I just don't know how she expects me to write out 24 inches on some sort of plant, you know? Like, yeah, that's a cool species of flower, but I don't have five million things to tell you about it. Maybe plants are her passion, but I only took Herbology so I could fit the requirements for a ministry job."
"Marlene McKinnon, ministry worker," Peter pulled two wands from the bag and passed one to Marlene before taking a bite off of his. "I don't like it much. I feel like you should have a job that's as impressive as you are."
"Oh, Pettigrew! What a charmer! I'm swooning all over for you!" Marlene dramatically laid herself across Peter's chest and laughed with him as he continued to eat his licorice. She rolled over and tossed her ankles on the arm of the couch, leaving her head on his lap and a great view of the fire. They sat together watching the flames, waiting for more of their mates to make their way down to the common room. James was the first to make an appearance, bounding down the boy's steps to jump onto the adjacent couch.
"Aww, what a positively darling couple!" James cooed at Peter and Marlene. Marlene grabbed another licorice, but this time instead chucked it towards James' head. Her aim was off and it was headed for his feet, but with the skills of a chaser, he snatched it before it hit the ground and took a bite of it.
"Git," Marlene crossed her arms across her chest and glared at the ceiling.
James laughed at her "insult" and replied, "Come on Marls! You know you have to do better than that! Lily's already obliterated meaning from that word for me. I have to say, though, I'm a bit disappointed that you couldn't do better." James shook his head disapprovingly at Marlene, but she was saved from replying with the appearance of Harry.
"Harry!" Marlene called out his name as he climbed through the portrait hole, "Come on over here and give dear ol' Jamsie a smack to the head, yeah?"
Harry laughed at Marlene and walked over to one of the chairs circling the group and plopped down. He sent a smile at all three of his companions and leaned back into the chair. "Do I really have to do my homework? I think sitting here would be much more fun."
"Of course you have to do your assignments, Synk. I don't want you pulled from practices. The first one is tomorrow!" James threw the last bit of his licorice at Harry who glared at it in disgust before flicking it off of his robes.
Harry mumbled under his breath, "I definitely shouldn't do them then."
"OI! Your captain is right here, you wanker! Watch what you're saying!"
"Well you don't have to listen," Harry countered at James before the head boy leapt from his chair and reseated himself on top of Harry.
"Get off me, you bloody oaf!" Harry tried to push James' body off of him, but James just held onto the edges of the chair and laughed at Harry's weak attempts.
"Head boy Potter! You're setting the absolute worst example for the younger students," Lily was at the base of the girl's dormitory steps, playfully chatising James as he continued to smush Harry into the chair.
"Head girl Evans! What a pleasure it is!" James grinned at Lily and sent her a wink as he readjusted himself on top of Harry. "I'm just reinforcing the importance of homework on Harry, here. He seemed to think that it's something he can skimp out on."
Lily made her way over to the two boys, all the fight she had to stop herself from grinning left behind as she reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "Oh yes. I see. You're enforcement of homework on dear Harry here isn't hypocritical at all, now is it? Hop on off of him, Potter. You don't want to break your new seeker, do you? I want a Gryffindor championship this year."
James smirked at Lily as she spoke, waiting for his turn to speak, "Oh hop off of him? Not a problem, Lils. Just as long as I can hop on you, I mean." He finished with a wink and Lily flushed red in embarrassment.
Lily took a pause before slipping her wand from the sleeve of her robe and hanging James upside down by his ankle. She giggled as he made a shocked protest of sound as he was yanked in the air, and she smiled at him as she walked over to the couch he had been sitting on before. "You're welcome, Synk."
It was stupid of her to wander the halls in wartime, and she knew that. She would've walked back with Harry if she was really that nervous about it, but she was more scared of Ron finding out about them. It was a double edged sword, really. Somehow, despite her being hyper aware of her surroundings, she didn't notice the flutter of the drapery that covered a hidden alcove until she was yanked behind the hanging.
Ginny followed instinct and drew her wand within a heartbeat, only to have Hermione disarm her just as fast. "Hermione?!"
Hermione bent down to retrieve Ginny's wand and handed it back to her, using her own to provide some lighting to the small space. "Yeah. I'm sorry for just grabbing you, but I assumed that you wouldn't exactly be up for talking."
"Well you got that bit right. What do you want?" Ginny shoved her wand back into the pocket of her robes and glared at Hermione.
"Look. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just-do you realize how much of a trouble this could be for the future? Just our being here is risking so much. I don't know what we're supposed to do! This isn't something that I have any knowledge of! And believe me, I checked. I just. I don't know what to do, Gin. And now Ron wants to save everyone who died, but what if that makes someone else die and. Just, it's a lot.
"That's not why I dragged you here, though. I just wanted to warn you that what you and Harry are doing is stupid. Not the quidditch-I honestly don't care about that anymore. It's in the past. But the sneaking around? Someone besides me is bound to notice. Ron will be less upset if you two just told him instead of trying to hide it."
Ginny rubbed a tired hand across her face and sighed, "Hermione just stop. I don't want your opinion on whether or not what Harry and I are doing is right. It's between us. Not you and me. Not you and him. Not Ron. It's between me and Harry and I honestly couldn't care less over what my brother's opinion on our relationship is.
"As for changing the past? It's really too late. It's screwed up already, yeah? What's the bloody point of trying to keep things as normal as possible? Ron's idea of saving everyone is great. Why shouldn't we do it. If we end this war once and for all, then we'll save more people. Stop with your worrying and realize how much of a gift this is, Hermione. This isn't a bad thing. Take it with a grain of salt."
Ginny shoved the tapestry out of her way and started back on her trek to the common room, an angry flush on her cheeks. Hermione had overstepped her boundaries. It didn't matter what Ron thought about her and Harry. As far as she was concerned, it was their relationship and their business. Ron could bite it.
She angrily muttered the password to the Fat Lady and climbed through the portrait hole to see her friends sitting around James, who was suspended by his ankle in the air.
"Ginny! Be a dear and spell me down, yeah? The blood is starting to pain my head."
Ginny let out an involuntary giggle and slipped past his hanging body to sit next to Lily on her couch, "How long has he been like this?"
"Oh only about ten minutes. I would take him down, but it's just too funny. Even Remus walked past like he didn't hear or see him."
"OI RED! LET ME DOWN," James had twisted his body around to glare at Lily. She just laughed at his red face and went back to whispering with Ginny. Marlene, apparently taking pity on him cast the counter curse and let James' lanky body fall to the ground in a heap. He laid in a pile for about a minute to let his blood run normal again before he turned his frontside to Lily and adopted a devilish grin into his eye.
James sprang off of the ground, picking Lily up and throwing her over his shoulder. She let out a squeak as she was pulled off of the couch and she started poking his back and requesting to be set down. He just smiled at the group and sent a cheery wave at them before leaving the room with her still over his shoulder.
Marlene stared at the door of the common room before turning to their circle and asking, "Should we, uh, you know.. Do something about that?"
"I say no," Ginny tucked a couple strands of hair behind her ear and spread her body along the length of the couch. "Those two idiots obviously fancy the pants off each other. Let's not interfere."
Marlene nodded her head in agreement and went back to watching the flames of the fire. Peter started to play with her hair and Harry pushed himself off his chair to move next to Ginny. He lifted her legs off the adjacent cushion and sat down, dropping them back onto his lap. She wiggled herself back on the couch so that she was sitting up and not laying down before she pulled off her shoes and wiggled her feet at Harry with a pouting face. He sighed in resignation before he started to massage her feet for her. She smiled cutely at him before leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
Peter stopped playing with Marlene's hair to draw her attention to Harry and Ginny on the couch. She smiled up at Peter with a knowing gleam in her eyes. He laughed quietly at her expression, but their silent conversation was cut off by the arrival of Sirius, Remus, and Mary.
"We just saw James parading Lily around the castle. Is there a cause for worry or a need for intervention?" Remus took a seat on the floor in front of Peter and Marlene, also sharing a smirk with his mates after glancing Harry and Ginny's set up on the couch.
"No cause for worry, I don't think. They're just pretending they aren't mad for each other again," Marlene called out from her comfortable position. Sirius and Mary both were making a move for the chair, with Mary reaching it first and triumphantly throwing her body into the cushiony walls of the armchair. Sirius glared at her before he dropped down in front of her. She took advantage of his placement to start plaiting his hair, much to his dissatisfaction.
"MacDonald. Just what in Godric's good name do you think you're doing?" Mary's fingers in Sirius' hair halted at his words, before he sighed and muttered, "Well if you must, go on."
Mary and Marlene laughed at him while Remus shared a smirk with Peter, wishing he had a camera. Harry spoke up for the first time since the others had joined the group of seventh years, "Hey I think Gin's fallen asleep. Do you guys know how to get her up to the dorms or should I just leave her here?"
"Well you could levitate her up there, but that's probably not the best system. I would just leave her on the couch. She looks comfortable the way she is," Remus said.
Harry nodded and carefully slid Ginny's feet off of his lap. He grabbed a blanket off of the back of the couch and carefully covered her with it before he tucked the hair that had fallen in front of her eyes behind her ear. Marlene and Mary watched as he tucked Ginny in and couldn't help the twin sighs that they let out. Harry turned to face them and red blossomed on his cheeks when he noticed all of them staring at him.
"Err, I um. I'm going to go do some homework. So.. Bye," he quickly spun on his heel and marched off towards the boys dorms.
Sirius was the first to break the silence, "So?"
Peter just laughed at the situation and Marlene cooed, "Oh they're so cute! I don't see why they don't just date already. They're so great together!"
"You hardly know the two of them, Marls. Yeah, we may be closer with Ginny than we had been before, but that doesn't mean anything. We still don't know anything about them if you really think about it," Mary resituated herself in her chair, finally done with styling Sirius' hair.
Remus thought on that for a second before he spoke up, "You know, guys, Mary's right. We don't know anything about them. Not Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Ginny. Why are all of them so secretive? I understand that it's war-time, but there's no reason to be so shady about everything. It's not like they're death eaters or something."
"Well they all seemed pretty traumatized when they first got here. They're better now, but they just seem so worn out, you know? I don't understand why though. They're the same age as us, right?" Marlene had pushed herself off of the couch and checked to make sure that Ginny was still asleep.
"I would assume so, but now I'm not too sure. It actually makes me really uncomfortable to know so little about them. We really should try to get something out of at least one of them. And I can't help but wonder what's going on between Ron and Hermione and Ginny and Harry. They were close when the got here, but now they avoid each other like the plague. Ron and Harry don't even talk anymore, really," said Remus.
"What the hell is going on with all of them. I don't get it," Sirius rubbed a hand down his face and looked to Remus for an answer.
"Don't worry, Padfoot. We'll figure it out," Remus bit his lip before continuing. "Here's my plan.."
A/N: Hello! So I am so super sorry for the fact that I can never seem to sit myself done and actually write out a chapter. I'm awful at all this. I really hope you guys still are reading. I'm trying-I really am. Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews. It means a lot. And for the guest reviewer who always goads me into writing out an update, thank you. I really need the motivation. I hope you liked this past chapter. Hopefully I can have chapter six up soon. Have a great day!