'Just talk yourself up and tear yourself down.

You've hit your one wall, now find a way around.

Well, what's the problem? You've got a lot of nerve.'

Confusing Friends

The next morning, Riley was the first to wake up in her dorm. She got out of bed and got herself ready then practically bounced down to the common room. She saw James sprawled across one of the couches and walked over to him.

"Good morning, James!" she said into his ear, causing him to wake with a jolt. He managed not to fall off of the couch.

"Riley…" he said, sitting up slowly.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked, sitting next to him.

"I was doing my Charms homework," he said picking it up from the floor.

"Did you finish it?" she asked as he flipped through it.

"Eventually," he replied and stood up, yawning. "I'm gonna go get ready, see you later."

"Bye!" she said. She walked over to a cabinet where students put books they had already left away for others to read. She picked one at random and left.

Riley decided she would just head down to breakfast early. There was no point in her waiting in Gryffindor Tower any longer seeing as Lily took ages getting ready every morning. Riley wondered why Lily put so much effort into her appearance when she was already so naturally pretty. She didn't wear a lot of make up but it was the amount of time she took in front of the mirror trying different ways to style her hair and would re-adjust her robes over and over again. And this happened every morning.

When she entered the Great Hall, she was the only Gryffindor in the hall. There were a group of Hufflepuffs, two Ravenclaws and no Slytherins. When Riley sat down at the table, she opened up her book, which turned out to be 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'. Her breakfast appeared in front of her and she began to eat, while reading the first story.

X

When James entered his dormitory, he threw his Charms book onto his bed, grabbed his wand from his bedside table and marched over to Sirius' and pulled back the hangings and started to shake the bed using his foot.

"Sirius, get up."

With the bed shaking rather violently, Sirius didn't even stir. The big lump, James thought and looked around the room. He noticed a glass of water on Remus' bedside table and summoned it. He bent down to eye level with Sirius.

"Okay, listen here, Padfoot," he said, not even bothering to try and stay quiet. "I've got a glass of water in my hands and if you don't wake up, well, I think you know what I'll do."

The only reaction he got was Sirius mumbling something about five more minutes and then turning over. James straightened himself up and held the glass high above his head and tilted the glass upside-down.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Sirius was not the only person who had got a fright. Peter had fell out of his bed, Frank had darted his hangings straight open and as for Remus, he started sending curses all over the place. Sirius turned slowly towards James and gave him a cold look.

"Good, I've got your attention," James said, sitting on the bottom half of Sirius' bed. "You've got some explaining to do."

Sirius pulled his covers of himself and walked over to the bathroom. "After that stunt, I'm not explaining anything to you." And with that, he closed the door.

"Well someone's not a morning person."

"James, what in the hell was that all about?" Remus asked. "I nearly had a heart attack.

"I tried to wake him up in a very nice and polite way, so I was forced to take drastic actions; pour water over him."

James shrugged and Remus shook his head.

"Would it not of been easier to wait until he was awake on his own?"

"Yes, but that would have been no fun."

Sirius exited the bathroom in his robes and walked over to his bed to pick up his wand. Just as he reached out for it, James snatched it away.

"Prongs, I swear to-"

"When were you going to tell us you had a date for the Hogsmeade weekend?" James asked him.

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. Now can I have my wand. I'm hungry."

"That's not an acceptable answer. Now I'm going to ask you again. When were you going to tell us?"

"Does it matter James?" James nodded. "Fine, I was going to tell you after dinner."

"When did you ask her?"

"Before dinner."

"Why her?"

"What's with all these questions."

James shrugged. "I'm a nosey bloke."

"Wand." Sirius said, holding out his hand.

"Fine," James mumbled and handed him his wand.

"Sirius?" Peter asked and Sirius turned around.

"Yes?"

"You're still playing about with Riley, aren't you? That's the reason you asked Claudia out."

Sirius smiled. "Well, Pete. I have to give you some credit. You're not as stupid as you look."

X

After breakfast that morning, the Marauders headed off to their first class, History of Magic. As Sirius and Peter walked off ahead, James and Remus stayed a few paces back.

"Why d'you think he's doing it?" Remus whispered to James. "Riley is more pissed off at him than ever and he's mad at her too. All he wanted from the start was someone to talk to during potions."

"I really don't know, Moony.," James whispered back. "I don't even get why going out with Claudia will make her angrier."

"Neither do I," Remus replied. "With the way Riley goes on about her, it's like she'd love to see Claudia with someone just to see how they cope."

James laughed as did Remus.

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" James said as they walked into History of Magic where he saw Riley talking animatedly with Professor Binns. "I've got a funny feeling today's class won't be as boring as usual." James said to Sirius, sitting down at his seat.

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe so."

James sighed and then turned around to watch Lily who was trying to coax Riley away from Binns so he could start the lesson.

"Riley, leave your questions for the end- You can ask him about the goblin rebellion later-yes, I promise I'll wait."|

Finally, Riley left Professor Binns table and sat in her new seat, beside Lily.

James was right. Everything Binns said, Riley would ask about it to make the whole situation complicated and the whole class had never been more entertained.

"The Giant's soon became angry at the way the were being treated and later cause havoc all around the world-Yes, Miss Martini?" Binns said, sighing.

"Why were they being treated horribly, anyway, sir?" Riley asked, putting her hand down. "I mean, they really are just people aren't they, but only a big larger than the normal human being."

"They were very violent creatures."

"Creatures?" Riley said, tilting her head. "I don't think they should be called creatures, sir. This is kind of like saying werewolves are monstrous, vicious creatures," James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all shared awkward glances, "But really, they aren't. The people who are werewolves aren't in their right minds, are they? No. So really, you can't judge a book by it's cover."

Professor Binns merely shook his head and went back to reading off his notes. Riley smiled at Lily, feeling satisfied.

X

As the day came to a close, Lily could tell the Elixir was wearing off Riley. Soon enough, Riley was shuffling slowly behind Lily.

"I don't want to go to dinner, Lils," she groaned. "I want to go to sleep!"

"Tough tooties," Lily said, finally dragging her all the way down the stairs to the Great Hall.

On their way down the stairs, the two girls came across Claudia and her own two friends making their way down. Claudia caught sight of Riley and glared and Riley swore she heard a low growl in her voice. She shook it off and followed Lily to the Gryffindor table.

"This time, I have to say, Claudia has every right to be horrible to me," she sighed sitting down at the Gryffindor table. "I can't believe I forgot my papa's anniversary."

Lily said nothing. Not thinking it was her place to say anything about the situation.

"I'll need to write my note on the flowers and send them out on Friday night so they'll arrive at the cemetery on Saturday morning."

Lily noted that Riley was probably making mental notes to herself and didn't need her to butt in.

"So, tell me," Riley said, now giving Lily her full attention. "Is Black seriously having the misfortune of going on a date with my dearest sister?"

"Misfortune? I don't exactly choose that choice of wording, Martinez."

Well, you won't be getting an update for a while! I'm going away for five days with my friends, but I promise to try and finish a chapter when I get home! I know this is short and not very exciting, but hey, every chapter can't be very good. Please Review!

Love Abbey xoxo