Chapter 2.
"Take good care of yourself okay?" Mum looked as nervous as she did the first time she sent me off to Hogwarts. I remembered being small and confused; come to think of it, nothing's really changed. I wasn't really the smartest kid, though I wasn't far from it. Having three of the Marauders and Lily Evans as your friends worked wonders. And I definitely didn't get my five feet tall height from Dad.
"Don't worry, Mum, I will," I replied, feeling a twinge of sadness that my Dad wasn't here as well. He'd said goodbye last night, when I went out to dinner with him on one of our father-daughter dates (it's a Muggle thing, he got it from one of his parenting books), but it wasn't the same.
"And don't let those boys influence you too much," she added. I couldn't help but smile at that. What she didn't know never hurt her, right? At least, I hoped.
"I've got to go, Mum," I said, as the whistle began to blow. I dragged my suitcase and Lynx in her cage, letting her kiss my cheek before I hopped on the train with five minutes to spare. Pretty soon I found an empty compartment and claimed it as my own, putting away my luggage and Lynx aside. A few minutes later I settled into the seat, and began reading the Muggle book Dad bought for me last night.
"LEE!"
I knew it wouldn't last long.
Suddenly I was swept into the arms of a tall, dark, handsome man grinning foolishly as he held me tight. Too tight, in fact.
"Sirius! You're squeezing me!" I squealed, as he let loose his bark-like laughter. Yeah, I squealed. Sigh.
As soon as he let me down, someone else tackled me from behind, lifting me up like I was a rag-doll. Then again, I didn't really weigh much more than that. I caught a glimpse of jet-black, messy hair and pulled his ear hard. James let out a yelp of pain before dropping me abruptly; I would have landed on the floor had Remus not chosen to walk in at the moment and save me.
"Oi! What was that for?" he hollered, massaging the ear I just pulled. I smirked, before realising that I was still in Remus' arms. I glanced up at him (yes, I really was that petite), smiling awkwardly and mumbled, "Thanks," before taking a step away. It just got hotter all of a sudden.
His ears were pink, but he answered, "It's okay. Trust James to drop you like that." He turned to mock-glare at him, who was still holding that blasted ear of his.
"She bloody pulled my ear!" he replied indignantly. Sirius rolled his eyes, as Pete and him started to put away their things and flopped in the seats. Remus shook his head and we sat down as well, leaving James to mutter incoherently as he put aside his own suitcase.
Suddenly, something shiny caught my eye and I grabbed James' arm, forcing him to turn around; my eyes stopping at his chest.
"You're Head Boy?" I squawked, my eyes wide in disbelief.
He winked. Bloody prat.
"We couldn't believe it either when the owl arrived with the news," Peter piped up. I looked at Remus and Sirius.
"The bloody owl pecked us like hell when Sirius demanded it for an explanation," Remus added, grimacing at the memory. True enough, there were little scars around each boy's arms and fingers; almost gone, but still there.
"You better behave your arse, Lee," James sneered gleefully; almost girly, in a sense. Ugh. Honestly, you'd think he was Prime Minister for England the way he was acting. "Lest you want more detentions under your belt, that is."
"POTTER!"
I'd know that shriek anywhere.
A second later, the door burst open and a redheaded tornado descended upon us, her flaming hair managing to whip Pete in the face as her slim figure stood in the doorway.
"Lily! How are you, my flower?" Bloody hell, James, can't you see the sparks coming out of her raging, green eyes?
Blinded by love, probably. Ugh.
"Why are you here and not in the Prefect's compartment? And Remus, you should know better! What-"
"We were saying hello to Lee here!" James replied cheerfully, his grin getting wider by the second as Lily's rant came to a screeching halt. Her eyes landed on me, who, I was proud to say, was only hiding behind Remus because she caught me by surprise and not because I was downright terrified of her.
"Lee!" She squealed, managing to knock James out of the way, her hair narrowly missing Sirius who ducked just in time as she grabbed me in a tight hug.
"Need-to-breathe-" I choked out.
She let go and I felt my eyebrow rise as I spotted the new Head Girl badge on her robes. Hmm. Maybe James wouldn't need my help at all, seeing as he'd be spending a lot of time with his flower this year at last.
I felt sorry for the poor girl.
"How're you? Did they give you any trouble?" Lily glared at the four shaking men around us.
I laughed a little, though it came out in a slightly higher pitch than usual. You never knew what to expect with Lily, was all I could say.
"I'm fine, Lils. They were just saying hello, right, James?" I stared at him, widening my eyes, willing the bloody git to understand me.
"Of course," he answered hastily, and as if to prove his point, he grabbed Remus' unassuming arm and literally dragged him out of the compartment, leaving a perplexed Sirius, a confused Peter, a satisfied Lily and an extremely relieved Ally.
"I'll catch up with you later, yeah?" Lily said, before disappearing as abruptly as she arrived. The three of us breathed a unanimous sigh of relief.
"I don't know what the hell Prongs see in her," remarked Sirius darkly, his head of shaggy black hair shaking in disbelief.
I raised an eyebrow. "She's pretty, intelligent and down to earth, unlike you. Where can you go wrong with that?"
He smirked. "Being arrogant and conceited is rather sexy, you know."
Unlike most girls my age, I had never had a crush on any of the Marauders. That tended to happen when they teased you about your height constantly during the first five minutes of your acquaintance. Of course, the punch that nearly broke James' nose in our second year may have something to do with it too. Funnily enough, that particular act had initiated a close brother-sister relationship between James, Sirius and I. After several shouting matches and a particularly violent hex by yours truly (thanks to Lily), that is.
I rolled my eyes. "Like hell it is." This was true. I was more into the shy, sensitive yet naughty type. I wonder if Remus could be naughty.
Wait, what the hell?
"Lee, you alright? I didn't mean to faze you or anything..." I blinked.
Sirius and Peter stared at me in concern, and a little bit of fear.
"Er, yeah. Must be those Nargles Xeno's always on about, yeah?" I replied, smirking to show I wasn't serious.
Sirius shook his head, although a smirk played on his lips as well. "C'mon, Wormtail. We'll let Lee here have the peace she had before we came knocking down her compartment." With that he and the roly-poly left the compartment, much to my relief.
There were just some things boys distracted you from; namely, reading in the quiet.
Around an hour or so later, the four Marauders came back; all looking suspiciously sweaty and panting like dogs on a summer's midday. Without saying anything they flopped down, Remus sitting next to me as James and Sirius fought over the window seat, leaving Peter to cower and mutter to himself in the corner. He'd always liked corners, that boy.
I looked at Remus, who had seemed to regain his breath. Beads of sweat still lingered on his forehead, and I gulped as I stared at his wet hair plastered to his head.
I bit my tongue hard to snap myself out of it.
"Slytherins-squirrels-" he gasped, running a hand through his hair.
I raised an eyebrow this time. "You charmed them into squirrels?"
Peter nodded, looking very horrified. James and Sirius were laughing like the two prats they were.
"Bloody hell, James, if Lily finds out about this-"
"You wouldn't tell her, would you?"
I stared at him. He had stopped laughing, and there was real desperation in his face, as he frantically pushed up his glasses.
"That you were an inconsiderate prat? Of course not." I laughed at the expression on his face. Sort of like a lion caught yawning. Honestly, I was their sister, not some idiotic, pathetic nark.
James gave me the evil eye once he realized I was joking. Uh-oh. Unconsciously I squirmed closer to Remus. No one wanted to be at the receiving end of James' 'evil eye' look. It was definitely karma at work.
"What say you to, say, three weeks of setting up and packing down before and after Quidditch practice, Alana Guinevere Smith?" He's using the full name now. Bloody-wait, what?
"You're captain too?" I croaked out.
He smirked at me as the others laughed at my horrified expression. I loved James like he was my brother but the boy clearly needed to get a life outside of Lily Evans and Quidditch. Even I wasn't that obsessed, and I was on the same team!
Then again, he was pretty much the best player on the team. I should have seen it coming.
"One week?" I pleaded, making my eyes as round as possible without looking constipated.
It was his turn to squirm; as far as I knew, no one had ever defeated the 'puppy eyes' charm I had mastered so perfectly, even with my blue eyes. I bit my lower lip as it wobbled, ignoring the others who were at this point trying to contain their laughter, Pete not so successfully.
"I don't know why I even bother trying," he grumbled, looking away. Sirius finally let out a loud guffaw as he slapped James' back.
"It's why she's our little sister, Prongs," he replied, winking at me. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help feeling pleased.
I've always wanted siblings, but my parents had said one child was enough to handle with. I'm pretty sure I was a mistake; that might explain the recent rift between them.
Like I said, I had never fancied Sirius or James to begin with anyway; they were clearly meant to fill the gaping hole as big brothers, nothing more.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the lunch lady pass, and I stood up. "I'm getting some lunch, any of you want anything?"
After a not-so-few requests for Chocolate Frogs, pumpkin pies and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, I headed out, intend to get my shopping done.
Instead, I bumped into another wall, and almost fell (again, really, I was the epitome of klutz) if a strong hand hadn't gripped my shoulder and righted me like a mannequin.
"Sorry about that," I mumbled, rubbing my nose. At this rate I probably wouldn't have a nose by the end of the week. I craned my neck to see the person, and was pleasantly greeted with short blonde hair and really blue eyes.
He smiled, a slight dimple in his left cheek. Nice. "No, I should apologise. I didn't see you there; I wasn't really looking where I was going." It was also nice of him not to point out that I was the one who bumped into him the first place.
Suddenly, his eyes lighted with recognition. "Hey, you're one of the Gryffindor Beaters, aren't you?" he asked, his voice masking his amazement.
Really, what was it that was so hard to believe about a petite girl being able to hurl Bludgers from across the pitch?
I smiled back, nodding. "Yeah, a little hard to believe, huh? You're from Ravenclaw though, aren't you?"
He held a hand. "Zeke Jacoby. Nice meeting you, uh.."
"Ally," I supplied.
Suddenly, I heard a low growl behind me as a familiar voice said, "Is he bothering you, Lee?"
I heard James echo the same sentiment.
Zeke glanced at them, before muttering a hurried goodbye and practically ran away.
I sighed, and turned around as Sirius said with undisguised glee, "Did you see the look on Jacoby's face? He looked ready enough to pee in the corridor!" Something snapped in me.
"That wasn't funny, you two!" I ranted at them, glaring. They stopped laughing and looked at me confusedly.
"But Lee, don't tell me you fancied the bloke! He-"
"Quit the mollycoddling, I don't. I just bumped into him and we talked. Big deal!" I snapped.
"Then why are you mad at us?" James asked, clearly frustrated. Not as frustrated as I was, though.
"You're breathing down my effing back, that's why!" I half-screamed at them; half because I didn't want the whole school to know I was rowing with two of my closest friends before dinner time. I sighed again, feeling defeated. "I'm not hungry anymore; since you two are here you might as well get your own lunch." With that I squeezed past them back into the compartment, blatantly ignoring Peter's open mouth and Remus' concerned face.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Nothing much," I mumbled.
Just as Remus opened his mouth again, James and Sirius burst into the compartment, their arms heavy-laden with goods and their sorry faces watching me apprehensively.
"We're sorry, Lee-"
"We didn't mean to make you mad-"
"We just didn't think he was good enough for you-"
"Forgive us?"
The last sentence was said together, and I failed to suppress a smile, albeit a small one.
"We were just talking you twits," I replied, shaking my head. I think I'd gone soft in the head; Potter and Black's charm were getting to me too easily.
James gave a loud whoop, shouting "Thank you, Sweet Merlin!" as Sirius let out a rather girly squeal and began to tickle-attack me mercilessly.
"Stop! Argh!" I giggled breathlessly, unable to fend myself against him. It was just my great luck that I was more ticklish than all the Gryffindor seventh-year girls combined, which was saying something. I gasped, "Remus, help!"
A second later I heard Sirius howl as he relented, and I scurried back to Remus' side. "Bloody hell, that hurt, Moony!"
Remus snorted, as I stared at Sirius, who was clutching the back of his head. "We can't break Lee's laugh-box before we arrive at school," he explained matter-of-factly.
At James and Sirius' confused expressions, I laughed out loud. "He was joking, you two," I said, still suppressing giggles.
"Oh," said James, and attacked the pile of sweets that were awaiting us.
I took a pumpkin pasty as the others pretty much dive-bombed into the food, smiling to myself. I would probably give up the whole world before I admitted how at ease these boys made me, in spite of my own insecurities. Bitter parents seemed years away as we joked around, James and Sirius relating their own summer, and the shenanigans they got up to during the weeks where I wasn't with them.
I was finally coming home.