Days in Avalon

Chapter Seven: Welcome Back!

"Why don't you teach your mate there how not to act like a complete prat!" shouted Lily to James. "Oh wait I forgot who I was talking to."

"Hey I resent that. And besides it doesn't work." chimed James as Lily and the rest of the girls stormed off into their compartment.

"Geez you'd think that a girl like that could handle a joke, huh," said Sirius with a smirk as he got up off the floor. Remus just looked at his friend and rolled his eyes. 'Star's right. He is a complete pig,' he thought. 'What a git!'

"What are you looking at," questioned Sirius.

"Nothing," said Remus as he entered into the compartment and took a seat next to the window, followed by Peter who was replaying the events that just happened in his head. Sirius was about to follow them when he noticed that his partner in crime wasn't by his side. He turned around and found James standing in the hallway looking down at the compartment that the girls were in.

"Hey Prongs, you all right there?" said Sirius as he came up to him and nudged him out of his trance.

"Huh? Oh yeah…yeah I'm fine," said James in a strange tone, as he reluctantly turned and walked back into the compartment. Little did Sirius know that his best friend couldn't get the thought of a certain red head, or the warm feeling he had when he held her in his arms. 'What's the matter with me?' thought James as he tried to get back to reality. 'Why am I thinking of Evans like that anyway?'

As James was slowly coming back to reality, he could feel someone shaking beside him, as if they were trying not to laugh. He looked over to his right and saw Sirius with a wide grin on his face slightly chuckling.

"What's so funny?" said Peter as he took notice to Sirius's behavior.

"Nothing," chuckled Sirius as he shook his head. Remus and James glanced at each other with the same curiosity in their eyes, until the realization of what, or rather who, Sirius was laughing about.

"Why do you constantly have do that to her?" said Remus getting tired of Sirius's sudden bursts of laughter. "All it ever does is lead to a fight."

"Because it's fun to watch the 'little princess' blow up like that," chuckled Sirius as if it were obvious.

"Yea know mate, I'm not sure it's a good idea to keep teasing her like that," said James suddenly taking Sirius off guard.

"What! Whose side are you on anyways?" said Sirius out of shock at what his friend said.

"I'm not on anyone's side. I just think you should take it easy a bit," said James in a brotherly tone.

"Why? Because she's your ex-girlfriend?" spat Sirius.

"No, because I don't really want to see her turn my best mate into a weasel. Although it might be a better improvement," said James to which he received a pillow in the face from Sirius.

"Hey I can watch out for myself, thanks. You just tell little miss Star to do the same. Or do you like protecting your ex-girlfriends," said Sirius with a smirk.

"How many times to I have to tell you? She's more like a sister, to me," sighed James.

"Besides, like she'll even listen to him," said Remus as he began to look for something in his bag. "The only one that can really get to her is Lily."

"Hey speaking of Evans, did you see the look on her face when James here pinned her to the wall," said Peter eagerly. Remus then rolled his eyes again and began to read his new Quidditch book that got a couple of weeks ago.

"Umm…Evans? N-no not…not really," said James in a tone that he hoped sounded normal. James couldn't help but close his eyes a bit and envision the feeling he felt when he had Lily pinned to the wall. 'What is going on with me?' he thought as he snapped back into reality.

"Sorry no. I was er- a little busy at the moment," said Sirius slightly in a daze. James and Peter noticed the strange tone in his voice and saw the look on his face. The one that told them that he was thinking up of something either evil or sickening.

"Hey!" said James as he elbowed Sirius in the arm. He had a pretty good idea what, or rather who, he was thinking of in his own little world.

"What?" said a puzzled Sirius as he rubbed his arm unsure of why he got an elbow until he realized what he said. "Oh please! You know I can't stand the girl! She ruined some of our best pranks mate. Besides she doesn't do a thing for me." he said in a mock tone.

"Oh really?" said James willing to play along in the mockery. After staring at each other for a moment the two of them busted out laughing.

The rest of the trip consisted of Remus and Peter playing Wizard Chess, while James and Sirius discussed upcoming pranks over a game of Exploding Snaps. When the train arrived at Hogwarts a few hours later, everyone began to scramble around preparing to depart the train. Peter quickly exited the compartment eager to get to the fest, followed by James, Sirius, and Remus. Right when James stepped out into the hallway he accidentally ran into someone.

"Sorry, I didn't mean.." started James until he was met with a pair of sparkling emerald eyes. Suddenly James had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, as if he had missed a step or something.

"Watch where you're going, Potter," spat Lily as she headed down the hall to catch up with Remus.

"Oy Prongs? You going to stand in the middle of the doorway all night?" said Sirius.

"You alright there Jay?" said a voice from behind James. It was Andy along with Felicia and Kelly.

"Umm…yeah. Fine," said James quickly as he made his way to the exit. Both Andy and Sirius looked at their friend with confusion, thinking the same thing. 'What's up with him?' Noticing that they were both staring at the same thing, Andy and Sirius glared at each other with the pure disgust and abhorrence in their eyes.

"Princess," snarled Sirius.

"Ringo wanna be," spat Andy as headed for the exit. Both Felicia and Kelly couldn't help but laugh at their friends comment and neither could Remus.

"What was that about?" inquired Sirius.

"You definitely should take Muggle studies this year mate," said Remus as he pushed Sirius forward.

Everyone then made it their way to the nearest unoccupied carriage that would take them up to the castle for the Opening Feast. In the distance, everyone could hear the bellow calls of the gamekeeper Hagrid rounding up the first years. "Firs' years over here!" As the so-called horseless carriages made there way up the sloping drive to the castle, everyone gasped in awe of the place that has become a second home to most. All of the students then climbed the grand staircase in front of the school and made there way to the Great Hall for the Opening Feast. After a few minutes of chattering, Professor McGonagall came in with the new first years and began the Sorting Ceremony. (A/N: Not really good with poetry so I'm not going to try and write a song for the hat…yet.)

After the last person was sorted, (a boy who was now running toward the Ravenclaw table) Professor Dumbledore stood up and began his opening speech.

"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I'd like to congratulate all of the first years on their sorting. Now as customary, I shall like to inform all that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to anyone and everyone. Also our caretaker Mr. Filtch has added some additional items, that if found, will be confiscated. I'll ask that all prefects and the new Head boy and girl, read this list over. Now that that is taken care of…Let the feast begin!" Suddenly, (as usual) all off the house tables were suddenly covered with a variety of foods.

"Peace offering, oh lady of all prefects?" said Andy to Lily with a pathetic sad puppy dog look as she presented a couple of chocolate frogs to her. Lily just sat there, glaring at Andy with a slight hint of disgust in her emerald eyes. Felicia and Kelly looked on them both as if they were watching a muggle tennis match, anxious to know what was going to happen next. Andy continued on with her pleading look for a few more moments, getting worried that Lily was never going to do anything. That was until…

"HMPPPMHHHHHHHAAAAAAAA" snorted Lily as she broke out into a great laugh. Andy sighed with relief as she took the seat across from Lily.

"Friends again?" said Andy as she extended her hand to Lily.

"Yeah. Sure, why not," giggled Lily as she rolled her eyes and shook Andy's hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily could see a couple of boys laughing and joking around. "Besides, whom else am I going to get to help try and keep them in line?" she said as she motioned to where the Marauders were sitting.

"True," snorted Andy as she started to fix herself a plate of food. After everyone had finally gotten some food in their stomachs and had some small chit chat, Karen came over from the Hufflepuff table to join her friends, followed closely by her sister Candice, who was eager to learn more about her sister's friends.

"Hey Candice, congratulations on getting into Hufflepuff," said Lily as the remains of their dinner melted away and the desserts started to appear.

"Thanks," said Candice who was suddenly drowned out by the loud out burst that came from the Marauders down the table. All of the girls (minus Candice) groan in disgust and rolled their eyes.

"So why do you hate them," said Candice giving into her curiosity.

"Hate is such a strong word," said Andy as glared down the table.

"Despise.." said Kelly,

"detest," added Karen.

"loath," added Felicia.

"Those are good words to describe what feel towards them," said Lily.

"What the…!" spat Andy so loudly that it frightened half of the people around her. Lily turned back to look at her friend, who now looked like a she had just stepped out of the shower. Her entire face and hair was covered in pumpkin juice that was once in her goblet.

"What happened?" said Kelly as she looked up at her friend. Right when she had spoken another loud outburst thundered from down the table. All the girls looked down to find James giving a high five to Sirius as he put his wand back into his robes.

"That's IT!" growled Andy as she shot out from her seat with malice in her eyes. As fast as she had gotten up, Felicia and Karen both pulled on the back of her robes and pulled her back down into her seat.

"Calm down, Andy," said Karen as she tried to restrain her friend.

"Take it easy. He's just doing it to spite you," said Felicia.

"Yeah well there are a couple of things I'd like to do to 'spite' him," roared Andy.

"Andy," said Lily in a warning tone as she motioned to the head table. Professor McGonagall was looking at the Gryffindor table ready to spring out of her chair at the slightest scent of trouble.

"Right. Thanks," said Andy as she took a couple of cleansing breaths.

"What did he do to tick her off so much?" whispered Candice to Kelly.

"You really want to know?" said Andy who obviously overheard Candice's question. Candice bit her lip slightly and gave a little nod not fully sure if she wanted to know.

"Fine," said Andy.

"Oh great. Here we go," said Felicia sarcastically. Andy ignored her friend and went on with her story.

"Back in third year I use to carry around a diary. Don't really know why I picked up the habit of carrying it around all the time, but that's beside the point. One night I accidentally left it in the common room after I had finished my potions essay. I didn't know I left it down there until the next morning when Sirius handed it to me. Said he was being a friend. And like the naive girl that I was, I actually believed him. Well, what I didn't know was that when he found it, he picked it up and read the entire thing that night."

"Urgh, that's terrible," said Candice.

"Oh I haven't even gotten to the heart of it yet. See in the diary I wrote about how I had this little crush on a guy from Ravenclaw, and how I could never really go up to him and say 'hi' or that I liked him. Well Sirius decided to do it for me instead. He copied down the passages and owled them…to everyone in the entire school. But what I had later found out was that he to it upon himself to add a few of his own 'literary descriptions'. Thought it would jazz it up a bit," said Andy with a shutter.

"What did he write," said Candice with a look of horror and disgust on his face.

"Let's just say he wrote some things that I wouldn't even dream of doing," said Andy as she glanced down at the table.

"What a git!" cried Candice.

"Yeah, but Andy here dealt with him all right," chimed Kelly as she finished off a tart.

"What do you mean," asked Candice.

"That night, after everyone got their letter, she throttled him in the middle of the common room while everyone was studying," chuckled Kelly.

"No way!" said Candice in disbelief and amazement.

"Afraid so…" said Felicia, "after she punched him right between the eyes, of course."

"How many guys did it take to get you off him," inquired Karen.

"Four. Almost gave Jay a bloody lip," said Andy as she finished off her second piece of cherry pie.

"Yeah and almost kicked out two of Remus's teeth," said Lily in a slightly harsh tone.

"Who else helped out?" said Felicia.

"Wood and a seventh year umm… Nichols I think," said Andy.

"Didn't you get into trouble?" said Candice with a puzzled look on her face.

"I only got five points taken away and had to help clean out Professor Corinthos's cabinet," said Andy with a sigh and slightly dreamy look in her eyes.

"I think that was the first light punishment McGonagall ever gave you," said Lily.

"What are you talking about? It was a great punishment," said Andy as if it were obvious. "At least I didn't have to spend detention with Flitch and Portview for an entire month, like some people."

"How come you only got an evening, while he got a month," inquired Candice.

"Don't really know," said Andy with a shrug. "McGonagall said something about being 'provoked."

"Hey gals, it's time to go. I'll catch up with you later. Got to go do my duties as a prefect," said Lily as she got up and went to deal with the new first years.

"Look at them. All high and mighty," said Sirius in a mock disgust tone as he saw the group of girls get up and mingle in with crowd of students heading out of the Great Hall.

"Give it a rest, Sirius," said James.

"Yeah, really. I don't think I can stand any more of your constant bickering," said Remus as he ushered the first years out of the hall.

"She's the one who started it!" said Sirius.

"Right and my dad is the Minister of Magic," said James.

"How is your dad doing anyway?" said Remus.

"Busy. Everyone in the Auror department is getting a bit worked over about this new dark wizard coming to power…Lord something or another," said James.

"Sounds kinda serious," said Peter with a slight shutter.

"Nah. They guy will be caught in a few months. Year at the most," said James simply as he and the rest of the Gryffindors climbed the staircases and traveled down the corridors to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Once everyone was inside, they all went to their respected dorms dreading the fact that classes started the next morning.

A/N: There you go, chapter seven. Nothing really too exciting happening in this chapter, but the next one will have some interesting scenes. (he he…evil thoughts…he he) Anyway I hope that you enjoy this new installment. Oh yeah, if anyone gets a little offended about the way Andy acts, you got to understand that she's the tomboy of the group. But as the years go by, she'll start to calm down a bit.

Disclaimer: How many times to I have to write this out? I'm not, repeat, NOT J.K. Rowling and I do not own HP. I only own the characters I made up and this story. Everything else belongs to her.