A/N- Back with chapter 2! This story isn't going to be very long lol. So don't worry if things move at a different pace to my other stories.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Dany wasn't fond of breakfast. She wasn't a fast eater. She needed her time while she ate. Which meant that she had to wake up early in order to do that. And that was a pain. Especially with chipper, cheery face Lily Evans sleeping next to her.

"They should have a spell for this," grumbled Dany, rubbing her eyes as Lily helped herself to some bacon. "Waking up without wanting to be swallowed by a bear."

"Fascinating breakfast topic," said James, sitting down opposite them, a grin adorning his face as always. "Why haven't we spoken much before now, Wilson?"

"Uh…" Dany smiled uncertainly, not knowing if he was being genuine. The four boys were well known pranksters and she always took everything they said with a grain of salt. Or a heaping tablespoon.

"Bugger off, Potter," snapped Lily, buttering a piece of toast. She almost didn't need to look at him, the words just popped out whenever he was around. Impressive reflexes, really.

"Looking lovely as always, Evans," continued James, as if the girl he was addressing hadn't even bothered to look at him before snubbing him.

"The wait is over! I'm finally here," came a loud voice from behind them. Sirius grinned at James, Remus following with an amused shake of his head. "Did you miss me?"

Dany watched the others laugh and joke freely amongst themselves and felt a twinge of envy. She had never been able to effortlessly blend into a conversation and manage to say clever, funny things. Not that she minded being quiet and uninvolved, but it was just something so far from her capabilities that she often wondered how so many people seemed to be good at it.

These were also times when she felt hopelessly inadequate. Lily was brilliant and vivacious, James was charming and good at almost everything, Sirius was suave and far too handsome to be real, Remus was unruffled and witty, and Marlene was gorgeous and athletic.

The sorting hat was far too biased. Placing all the exceptional talents in Gryffindor, creating a definite disbalance of power in the house dynamics. No wonder the Slytherins hated them.

She, herself, never really felt like she belonged in Gryffindor. Maybe Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. The latter definitely seemed a House for introverts. She wasn't nearly sharp enough to be a Slytherin, thank Merlin!

Her attention was brought back to the table when she saw James trying to stuff all the bacon strips inside Sirius' mouth. Apparently, this was some sort of great display of their utter daredevilness?

"Dorks," muttered Dany under her breath, and beside her she heard Remus snort and promptly choke on his pumpkin juice with a few coughs.

"Whaz ron, Mooey?" asked Sirius, his mouth still full of bacon.

"Other than the extremely unattractive sight of you chewing on an entire week's bacon?" answered Remus, having recovered fully.

"Woah there, Lupin! What's with the third degree?" said Sirius, gasping in horror.

"I'm pretty certain you're using that wrong, Black," said Lily, flicking her wand and removing the bacon stains from his shirt.

James pouted in his best friend's direction, but Sirius just barked out a laugh. Once again, Dany felt incredibly out of place. Quickly cramming the last bit of toast into her mouth, she excused herself and started walking in the direction of Charms.

She hadn't been walking more than a couple of minutes when she heard someone running to catch up with her. It was Raging Redhead - Lily Evans.

"Dany! Wait up!" she yelled, quickly covering her mouth when the sound echoed through the corridor. "Have you reviewed the spellwork Professor Flitwick asked us to do?"

"Yup?" Dany looked at Lily a little quizzically. Lily had seen her working on the review only last night. Why was she asking her such a redundant question?

"Just play along," she hissed, lowering her voice. "Otherwise I'll have to walk with Potter and co."

Or you could just walk on your own and ditch Potter and co. Independence, freedom, no ownership - all that shit.

"Sure."

"Merlin! He's so persistent sometimes. Just because I walk with them sometimes, doesn't mean I want to do it always!" she said exasperatedly. "And even when I do walk with them its because of Remus."

"That's alright, Lily. You can walk with me," said Dany with a slight laugh. The redhead sighed in relief, looking a little embarrassed at her own antics.

Dany loved Charms. It wasn't as if Flitwick was a fascinating teacher. He was good, slightly boring at times, and far too lenient. Which is why 'Potter and co.' as Lily had so beautifully put it, usually resorted to pulling all kinds of pranks during his classes.

And today, they had decided to bother some of the Slytherins. Particularly, Snape, Avery and Mulciber. James and Sirius had charmed their quills to replace every 'd' with an 'f'. It was brilliant really, considering that today's was a theory lesson on how to silence a duck.

Dany could see their faces turn purple with rage and frustration, scratching out parts of their essay and glaring at James and Sirius. Lily noticed this exchange and rolled her eyes dramatically. Normally, she might have threatened James, but after her falling out with Snape, she seemed less inclined to reprimand the four boys for their pranks.

Needless to say, there was some backlash after the lesson. Snape and Avery had rushed out after James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, their wands gripped firmly in their hands. Mulciber had fallen behind, so he pushed past whoever was in front of him, naturally, managing to knock Dany into the wall and completely winding her.

"Watch it, Mulciber!" yelled Marlene, glaring at his large figure. He paid no heed, joining his friends as they prepared to engage in a fight with the four Gryffindor boys.

It was rather predictable. There were hexes hurled about, insults traded, Mulciber was disarmed and hung by his ankle, Peter got hit by a Stinging Jinx, and finally, McGonagall handed them all one week of detention.

"You'd think they'd be a little more innovative," complained Marlene, with a sigh. "I mean, it's basically the same insults being used. I'd be embarrassed to be seen using names I'd used in second year."

"That's not fair, Marly!" exclaimed James, looking mortified. "We're plenty innovative!"

"Not from where I was standing," said Lily, almost nonchalantly. James gaped at her for a moment before launching a tirade on how they had evolved as pranksters and tormentors of Slytherins in the past five years.

Dany couldn't help but chuckle at the conversation. James was kind of sweet. In a weird way. And he had a huge crush on Lily. Which was probably why he kept trying to get her attention like that.

"You okay, there?"

Dany was jerked out of her thoughts by someone walking beside her. She turned and saw Sirius, looking at her with a grin.

"Huh?"

"I'm asking if you're okay. I mean, after getting bodyslammed by Mulciber."

"Oh." For some reason, her brain had lost touch with her vocal chords. It was a full 30 seconds later that she nodded her head and laughed nervously. "I'm fine. Just startled me, mainly."

"That's good," said Sirius. "Wouldn't want anything happen to my incredible Potions partner, now, would I?"

"Yeah," said Dany with a slight laugh, trying to mask how awkward she felt. Not to mention that her cheeks had started coloring.

"I'll catch you later, Wilson," said Sirius, with a wave, one hand in his pocket while the other ran through his hair.

"Mm hmm," was all that she managed.

"Dannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny!"

Dany swung open the curtains of her four poster, staring wearily at an extremely excited Marlene. She was practically bouncing up and down. Actually, she was definitely bouncing up and down.

"Marls…?" she replied with nowhere near as much enthusiasm.

"Do you wanna go to Hogsmeade?"

Clearly something had addled her brain. Otherwise, why would she be talking about a trip that was almost two months away.

"Sure. But Halloween's a bit far off, don't you think?"

"Who cares about Halloween? I want to know whether you want to go to Hogsmeade NOW, silly!"

"Now?!"

"Yes! Merlin! Were you sleeping? Is that why you're so slow all of a sudden?" she said exasperatedly. "The guys are heading there and Lily 'Secret-badass-motherfucker' Evans, agreed to go with them. Dorcas and Mary are studying somewhere, so I thought I'd ask if you wanted to come with. So, do you?"

"Uh..." Marlene's expression was quite intense, so Dany swallowed carefully before replying in the affirmative. "Sure."

"Great! Come on!" she said, pulling her out of bed and down the stairs into the common room.

Dany flushed slightly at the sight of James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Peter, all chatting amongst themselves until she and Marlene came bounding down the stairs.

"Alright! McKinnon!" yelled James. "Let's gooooooo!" He flung one arm around her and the other around Sirius. Sirius followed suit and flung his arm around James and the other around Remus. And Remus did the same for Peter. That left Lily and Dany, and the glare that Lily was sending Marlene meant that there would be no arm flinging for her.

"How they manage to get away with all of this is beyond me," muttered Lily, although a smile threatened to break out onto her face.

"It's a talent, I think," said Dany, giggling at the sight of James and Sirius singing completely out of tune. "A talent for trouble."

It was rather odd that they hadn't bumped into Filch or any Prefect or teacher so far. But then again, Dany had long since given up on trying to figure out the tricks of the Marauders.

"And now children," said James, ruffling his own hair for Merlin knows what purpose. "Welcome to the big leagues."

"They're studying about television in Muggle Studies," explained Remus.

"Ah," said Dany, chuckling at how ridiculous all this seemed. This was not her. She wasn't popular. She didn't hang out with charismatic, beautiful people. And she most definitely did not break rules and sneak out of school after hours.

"It's nice to see you out here, Ms. Wilson," said Sirius, adopting a hilarious posh tone. Hilarious because he already sounded extremely posh, but the added effort just made him sound like a parody. He bowed gracefully and then grinned at her.

"Whatever are you doing with my good friend Dany?" yelled James, jumping beside Dany and linking his arm with her. "Perchance trying to steal a trick or two to help you with your utterly devious scheme to rule the Apothecary world?"

The theatricality of it all just made Dany laugh more. Sirius and James didn't break character, continuing the bizarre act that they had begun. Soon Marlene had joined them as well. Peter was quick to follow. Finally Remus and Lily obliged as well, engaging in a hilarious sketch of Merlin knows what.

Through it all, Dany couldn't keep her laughter and excitement in check. It was exhilarating to keep up with the boys, Marlene and Lily. She felt almost invincible, her words becoming more confident as time went on. The flush on her cheeks also grew because she was so unused to this kind of attention. It was flattering, really. James and Sirius were the most popular boys in school. Remus, although quiet, was also very attractive and intelligent.

Dany felt strangely happy. And a little anxious as they trooped back to Hogwarts, loaded with sweets and alcohol.

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