Chapter 3: Let's Be Friends
The train arrived at Hogwarts almost at dinner time. They got to the castle on a carriage pulled by invisible horses. Cristina never felt more excited. She felt the butterflies of nervousness in her stomach. She loved that feeling.
Once inside the castle, James, Peter, Remus and Sirius made their way to the Great Hall, where they would have dinner. But before she could get inside, a woman grabbed her arm and looked at her, from head to toe.
"Are you Miss Cristina Hernandez?" The woman asked in a very serious tone.
She gulped, nervous, and nodded.
The woman relaxed and flashed a small smile at her.
"I'm Professor McGonagall" the woman introduced herself. "I've received orders to make you wait with the first years to see which house you're sorted in. Welcome to Hogwarts, by the way."
Cristina managed a small nod before turning around to see a bunch of small kids looking at her. Oh great, now she'd have to enter the Great Hall next to a group of kids.
Once they got inside and went through the middle corridor towards the teacher's table at the opposite end of the Hall, she felt hundreds of eyes glued to her. Someone whistled.
"You were right! It's her!" another one whispered.
Cristina was feeling more and more nervous as she was approaching the teacher's table.
"That's my porn star!" Sirius joked as she passed by.
If glares could kill, he should be dead by now. James smiled at her and both Remus and Peter were giving her thumbs up. Once they reached the end they all stopped in front of a hat positioned on the top of a stool. Professor Dumbledore greeted them at Hogwarts and Professor McGonagall called the first year's names one by one and they sat on the stool with the hat on their heads. The hat decided which house they were sorted in. Once they were all sorted, Cristina was the only one left with everyone staring at her. It sent her goose bumps all over her body.
Professor Dumbledore got up and McGonagall sat down, letting him do all the work. He approached her and made her turn around to face the four large tables full of people, each one contained people from a different house. She could feel her face burning red and prayed to Merlin no one else would notice from such a distance.
"This year, we have a new student that decided to join us to complete her seventh year of studies in our school" Dumbledore said, grabbing my shoulders with a proud look on his face. "It is hard for someone your age to change school and habits and leave their friends to make new ones. It is even harder for someone who is from a different country. This girl has had the courage to do it and chose our school out of every other, and she deserves a round of applause."
People did as Dumbledore said so; even the teacher behind the two of them did, smiling.
"Now!" He said out loud, making them all stop and go silent again. "She will be sorted into one of our houses for her abilities and flaws, and I hope that wherever she gets sorted into, their house mates will help her through this year."
An awkward silence fell while she sat on the stool and waited for Dumbledore to put the hat on her head. She could feel the people staring at her, the pressure. She was shaking a little bit, she was more than nervous. The Marauders were smiling at her, an empty seat between James and Peter in case she got sorted into Gryffindor. Her heart was beating faster and faster as the Sorting Hat got closer to her head. She closed her eyes, ignoring the voice from the hat on her head, just listening to her heart beat. A moment later, she opened them to find the Gryffindor table on their feet, smiling and shouting with their fists in the air. The other tables were clapping their hands and soon stopped to focus on the food that just appeared in their plates.
Before heading to her seat, Dumbledore gave her a smile and a small nod letting her know that he knew everything. She felt a shiver run down her spine but ignored it.
Soon she was laughing and joking with her house mates, having eating contests with Sirius, and smacking Peter's back so he wouldn't choke with the food and die.
After dinner they all went to the Gryffindor common room to have a few more laughs when James stood up and waved them goodnight.
"Where is he going?" Cristina asked.
"He's Head Boy now" Remus explained. "He has his own bedroom."
"And common room" Sirius added. "This connects with Head Girl's own bedroom. Head Boy and Head Girl share private headquarters. Isn't it cool?"
"Cool?" Peter questioned. "It's going to be hell in there. Or have you forgotten that Lily Evans is Head Girl?!"
Sirius thought for a moment and nodded. "Your right, Wormtail."
"I'm always right" he said.
"I'm going to bed, anyone coming?" Sirius asked, ignoring his comment.
"Well, I'm not going to your bed but I should go to my bedroom, I'm tired and need some sleep."
The other two boys nodded and followed us upstairs.
"Hey, Cris" Sirius said and Cristina blushed at the nickname he just gave her. "Why don't you just take James' bed, since he has his own bedroom now?"
"Are you nuts?" Cristina blurted out. "We could get into real trouble if McGonagall finds out that a girl is spending the night in the boys' dorm."
"You scared, my little porn star?" he said giving her a daring look.
"You do know how to play dirty, Black" she answered taking a step forward at him.
"It's just a game, if you don't want to play, there's no need to" he stated, putting his hands up. He leaned closer to her ear and whispered "No pressure."
That's when Cristina couldn't take it anymore. She pulled away a little, facing him, her nose touching his, and looked defiantly into his eyes.
"Game on."
James had spent twenty-five minutes of his life standing outside the headquarters entrance. He didn't have the guts to get inside and face Lily. He didn't want her to yell at him. There was once when he thought it was a huge turn on, and it still was, but he was tired of them fighting over nothing. He wanted to make progress in their relationship and start being friends. But whenever he tried to be nice at her, she thought he had done something wrong. He pulled up his glasses and sighed. Maybe he shouldn't sleep here tonight; maybe he should go back to his old bed with his old roommates.
"You're a coward, dude!" a small Sirius dressed in a Greek toga and armor said to him from his shoulder. "You have to be strong! Face your fears or you'll never get over them! If I were Zeus right now I'd send a lightning bolt right up your tight ass!"
And with that, it vanished into a small plof! James shook his head to get the thought out of his mind. Why the hell did he imagine Sirius dressed as a Greek hero? No, what's better; why the hell did he read all those mythology books during summer? But the small Sirius had a point. He had to face Lily, or else he would never get to see his Head Boy bedroom.
He muttered the password Minotaurus to the portrait, which opened to show him a short corridor that lead into a huge common room. Lily was sitting on the couch, reading a book.
"Oh, um... Hi" he muttered, standing right there, at the end of the corridor.
"Hi, Potter" said Lily without looking up at him.
"Nice common room, huh?" he said, trying to start a peaceful conversation with the girl.
"Hm-Hm" Lily answered with annoyance in her voice.
James walked to her and plopped right next to her on the couch.
"What are you reading?" he said, trying to sneak a peek on the pages.
"Nothing" Lily answered, this time more annoyed than the last one.
"Well, you obviously are reading something because if not then you would-"
"MERLIN, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT POTTER?!" She snapped, closing her book and putting it on the coffee table in front of them.
"Hey, don't scream at me!" He said, moving away to the other side of the couch in case she wanted to bite him.
"Well, you're being annoying, I just wanted to read in peace and then you came here asking stupid questions and talking nonstop! So . . ?"
James looked at her. Lily could see the hurt in his eyes. For an instant she felt bad and wanted to apologize, but she remembered all the times he had made fun of her, so she just remained silent, waiting for his response.
"I- I was just trying to be nice because I thought it would be better if we put aside our differences and tried to be friends now that we are Head Boy and Head Girl and have to spend more time together."
Lily was taken aback by his comment. She looked puzzled. She didn't know what to say or do. She just sat there, looking at him in confusion.
"Well, I see I'm the only one who's willing to change our relationship for the sake of our lives inside these headquarters. I'm going to bed, good night Lily, see you tomorrow" he said as he stood up and made his way towards his room.
Lily could tell he was being honest and that made her feel bad, really bad. The fact that he called her by her name and not surname made her smile.
"Potter, wait!" she called out before he could close the door to his bedroom and ran towards him.
"Do you need anything?" he asked, opening the door and a little surprised to see her standing right in front of him. For a while she remained silent and James was getting impatient.
"We could try" she blurted out.
"Try what?" He asked, shocked by her sudden outburst.
"You know, the whole being nice to each other thing" she said with a smile on her face, her cheeks turning red.
James loved her reaction and couldn't help put lean in closer to her.
"Good night, Evans" he whispered with a smile on his face, and before pulling away he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and waited to see her reaction.
Her eyes immediately stared at her feet, her face and ears were getting redder and redder. James smiled at this and closed the door to his bedroom. He focused on unpacking and getting his bedroom done to not think about Lily's reactions and get his hopes up.
"Game on."
Sirius couldn't stop thinking about these two words and how close she had been to him. He had always had a crush on her since the first time he saw her on Sexy Witch magazine. Truth is, he did not only buy every number of the magazine to have pictures of her, but he had also bought once or twice fashion magazines where she was posing. He couldn't believe he had just met his idol, and his idol was his friend. He wanted to feel what it was like to kiss her on the moment they had been so close to each other. He felt her breath and it drove him insane. But Cristina only saw him as a friend. Not that he wanted to be more than that. Boyfriend/Girlfriend relationships had never been his type, he was the one for one nightstands. And with Cristina, he was sure he'd never get that. So he decided not to think of her that way and just as a friend.
When she came out of the bathroom in a big XL gray T-Shirt, a pair of yellow sweatpants shorts and knee-length white socks with two colored lines on the top, one pink and the other purple, he couldn't help but choke on his own saliva. She looked like a goddess. He wanted to see her in his own T-Shirt and boxers coming out of that bathroom. "Control yourself you dumbass!" his subconscious snapped at him. "She's only ever going to be a friend. That's it! Now try to think of your grandmother in lingerie before you get a boner!"
Sirius saw the looks on both Remus' and Peter's face and he coughed twice trying to get their attention. He sent them a You're-drooling-mates-control-yourselves look and looked back at Cristina, who was throwing herself on top of James' bed.
"Thank you guys for letting me stay with you" she said with her head buried in her pillow. "I don't know if I would've survived those make-up spoiled bitches in my bedroom."
"You're welcome" the three of them replied at the same time.
Sirius threw himself backwards, lying on his bed defeated, with a sigh coming out from his lips and fell asleep in an instant.