Disclaimer: Anything that rings a bell belongs to J.K Rowling

Chapter 6: The Divide

The sound of metal meeting ceramic resounded across the Hall, swallowed by the hundred pairs of chinking cutlery that sang through the lunch hour and Sirius turned to his dark-haired friend, "You're not serious."

James had the decency to look abashed at his best friend's proper use of the word, portraying just how serious he was, "She asked Padfoot. What could I say? No?"

"Yes! Yes, no is exactly what you say!" Sirius looked at Peter for back up, but the boy was too preoccupied with his second piece of Shepherd's pie. Sirius on the other hand, felt like he had completely lost his appetite and pushed away his plate.

"Look, I don't like it any more than you do, I want to prank the first years just as much as you do! But she asked us to hold off, she didn't command, didn't demand, just merely requested that we don't ruin her whole sleepover thing." James pushed his square frames up the ridge of his nose, something he did when he was uncomfortable, "Personally I think this is a good thing, we haven't done anything of consequence to the Snakes in a while, they might have forgotten we existed, I think Old Snivellus needs a reminder."

Sirius snorted, "Don't try to distract me with the glittering possibilities that is that oily haired bastard. And did you perhaps ponder the consequences of your actions Prongs? You do know the first years were expecting this? No, actually they were looking forward to this, nicking them ice cream and cupcakes now just make us look like girls if it doesn't follow embarrassment and emotional scarring."

James glanced down at his untouched piece of pie, a look of guilt Sirius could plainly see from his seat across from him, "Actually… we're not allowed near them at all."

Sirius made a sort of choking noise at that, and Peter patted him on the back in concern, to which the taller boy shoved him off, annoyed.

This was truly unfair, he had such plans for the firsties, it was going to better than last year! Much better!

His grey eyes caught on a scene at the entrance, and he groaned as he took an absentminded bite of pie, "He isn't Sirius about her, is he?"

James beamed in response to his friend's 'correct' pronunciation of the word and followed Sirius' gaze, "I suppose so?"

Sirius shook his head as Remus made his way towards them, thankfully parting from the short blonde girl who seemed to be popping up everywhere. He had no qualms with the girl… she wasn't unattractive… she just… was not right for Remus. He needed someone to pull him out of his shell, not push him in deeper.

"They're not going out. He said he's tutoring her in Muggle Studies." Peter made a face at that as he helped himself to the last slice of pie, "What kind of nitwit needs help in Muggle Studies though?

"You." Peter jumped as Remus glared at him as he slid into the seat next to James. He quickly shovelled half the piece of pie into his mouth so as to not have to respond.

"So, are you two a thing now?" Sirius took in his sandy haired friends slightly pale complexion; it always took a few days for him to return to his normal tone after the full moon which had passed a few days ago. In contrast to Remus' pale demeanour, Sirius was chipper and bright, he loved their monthly adventures.

Remus busied himself with pouring some pumpkin juice, "Not everyone is incapable of befriending a member of the opposite sex."

An affronted look slipped over the grey eyed boy's face, "I have plenty of female friends."

"Name one you haven't kissed?" Remus cocked a brow that clearly said checkmate and Sirius busied himself with his pie as he wracked his head.

"Andy!" He shouted in triumph.

"Andy doesn't count Sirius, she's your cousin."

Sirius barked a laugh in response, "Shows how much you know about my lovely family. Speaking of Andy, you think she's pretty, right Moony."

Remus blanched over his glass of juice, "Andy? Yes… I suppose, why?"

Sirius straightened in his seat in excitement, "Great! When should I arrange a little introduction-"

"Woah woah woah." James chuckled as Remus placed his glass down, "Firstly, I already know Andy, so you don't have to introduce us. Secondly, we seriously have to have a talk about this sudden cupid phase you seem to be entering. And thirdly, Andy hardly seems like she needs any help finding a boyfriend so what is it with you throwing her at all of us, like a piece of steak?"

"He hasn't thrown her at me." Peter sulked and Sirius' eyes flickered to him momentarily.

"It's nothing personal Wormy, she just doesn't like blondes."

"But I'm not blonde-"

Sirius' attention was already back on Remus, "So, what I got from that is you think she doesn't need help finding a boyfriend… so you think she's hot?"

"Who's hot?" Aiza Shafiq hopped onto the bench next to Peter, "Oh, did I just interrupt a conversation about yours truly." She pointed a finger at her smiling lips, "Do go on, let's hear how hot you think I am Remus. Start from the bum and work your way up."

Remus lowered his hazel-green eyes at her, obviously thinking of a witty response but James cut over him, "Is Evans okay? Why did McGonagall want her?"

Aiza shrugged, "I haven't seen her yet, thought she'd be down here. Oh, we're all out of pie!" She turned, glancing down the table and pouted, "And it's all the way down the table…"

"I'll go get it." Peter volunteered; pink faced at being this close to Shafiq.

"Oh, would you! You are such a darling." Aiza leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek and Sirius had to nudge the boy to snap him out of the dreamlike state he seemed to have descended into.

"Would you not do that?" Remus whispered as Peter scampered up the aisle.

"Jealous?" Aiza cocked a dark brow at the boy.

"Heartbreakingly so." Remus drawled sarcastically and James and Sirius swapped an amused look. Remus was hardly ever sarcastic, a characteristic that only ever cropped up in the presence of the girl at Sirius' side, "You know how long it took for him to get over you, and he just stopped muttering your name in his sleep."

"He still does that. Though he's not asleep and the drapes, their drawn and…" Sirius waggled his brows suggestively and Aiza laughed and turned back to Remus.

"You make it sound as if we dated."

"In his head you dated. Dated, got married, had two children named Allen and Delilah."

The table erupted into laughter at that, "Oh and by Allen, you mean Sirius. All your first-born sons are to be named after me." Sirius flourished his fork threateningly at his friends opposite him.

"Delilah? In what universe am I going to name my daughter Delilah? I think you're spending too much time with your little Puff ball."

"My what?" Remus snapped.

"Oh, you know, blonde Hufflepuff, this high, round as a ball." Aiza laughed as Remus glowered at her.

"Everything is about looks to you, isn't it? Is it inconceivable for you to care for someone for who they are rather than what they are?"

The girl rolled her brown eyes, and tossed her long dark hair over her shoulder, "Oh Godric, don't Remus. Personality is for ugly people. We don't have to worry about such nonsense."

Aiza's smirk fell off her face as Remus didn't respond to that, his eyes darkening slightly, and James and Sirius swapped a concerned look.

"Here." Peter dropped into his seat, pushing the pie towards Aiza, "Had to wrestle Edgar for it all the way down at the Hufflepuff table."

Sirius highly doubted that Peter would have survived if Edgar had to wrestle him and the awkward silence was thankfully broken by Mary who swung her legs over the bench next to Sirius, slapping a magazine down on the desk, "Did you see? The Ravenclaws are in the lead, Selwyn's apparently won a whole lot of points for them in some inter-house gobstones competition."

"I wouldn't bother about that; first match is in a few weeks and we'd more than make up for it. Speaking of, where is Marlene, I need to let her know about practice tomorrow night."

Mary shrugged, "Probably with Andrew, but I'll let her know."

James stopped paying attention as his eyes clamped on the entrance and Sirius didn't need to look to know that a certain redhead just walked in. He sighed, sometimes he preferred when his best friend was a deer, at least then he could pay attention to the important things. Sirius was also sure antlered Prongs would never have called off a prank. If anything, deer Prongs would map out a plan of action on the sand with his antlers because he was awesome like that.

Sirius glanced down at the magazine Mary had left on the table, "Ooh a muggle magazine. Where'd you get one of those! Pixie, I'd never think you were the type!" Sirius snatched the magazine up from Mary and quickly turned to the centrefold and frowned, "Where's the naked girls? Logan's ones always have naked girls."

Mary rolled her eyes at Sirius, "Logan and my mother obviously subscribe to different magazines."

"What's a hermapoditee." Peter squinted at the cover page of the lifestyle magazine, the article names scattered about it to catch the attention of potential readers, as Sirius placed the rag back down in disappointment.

"A what?" Remus' frowned at his friend.

"Not hermapoditee Peter. Hermaphrodite." Mary corrected glancing at the word the boy was talking about, easy to do as it was in large bold letters. Sirius thought that Mary quite liked having Peter around, someone she could correct and roll her eyes at, "I think it's someone who has both…is both a boy and a girl."

Peter sighed, "You can't be both a boy and a girl at the same time, don't be daft Mary."

Mary narrowed her eyes at the boy, "What would you know about muggle customs. And don't say you get an E in Muggle Studies; we all know Remus does your assignments."

Aiza leaned over Peter, shutting him up from whatever he was about to say, "Is that really true? Muggles can have both? Really? Well, this explains a lot."

"A lot about what?" Lily had just joined the conversation, neatly sliding into the seat next to Remus.

"Devon's sudden appearance! Her constant silence, she probably sounds like a man! Her hiding away in the dorm ALL the time."

"Her lack of breasts." Sirius chipped in, suddenly excited by the theory, "The hair!"

"Devon's a hermaphrodite!" Sirius and Aiza chipped in together and burst into laughter.

"Eww." Peter spat out as he looked up at Aiza's laughing face hopefully, eager to join in the fun, "What a…" She looked at him expectantly and he sputtered, "Weirdo."

Sirius shook his head at his friend's lame response.

"Please, do we have to discuss this whilst I'm eating." James snapped in disgust just as there was a clatter of breaking glass.

They all looked to the source, finding it to be just a few seats away and Mary gasped as Lily jumped to her feet as the girl in question scuttled past, face to the floor as she dashed for the entrance.

"Was that Devon?" Remus muttered in concern.

"Oh Godric! She heard you!" Lily snapped at James, as Remus joined her in standing and they both hurried after the girl.

The rest of the group followed; Sirius unsure why. What were they going to do?

"Jude!" Lily called as the girl was already up on the first floor and the Gryffindor prefects hastened up the grand staircase to follow her. "Jude!" Lily glanced back, seeing James and the rest of them, and stopped, "What are you doing? Haven't you done enough already!"

"I haven't done anything." James spat, "If you don't recall it was Sirius and Shafiq who-"

"Oh, it's ALWAYS someone else's fault isn't it!"

"I suppose EVERYTHING is my fault, whilst the solution to everything lies at your feet!" James snapped and Sirius' brows rose, he didn't think James had ever taken that tone with Lily before, "Evans, always dashing to the rescue. You can't keep your nose out of others business."

"You're one to talk! You practically bully anybody-"

"I don't bully Evans! Maybe it looks like bullying to Miss Holier than thou-"

"Four on one! Four on one isn't bullying?!" Lily had taken a threatening step forward; James was on the step below her and at this instance they were almost eye to eye.

James shook his head, his glasses glinting as the sunlight hit it, hiding the disappointed look Sirius knew to be on his face, "Seriously! Seriously after what he called you! After what he did to you-"

"Because of you!"

James looked as if he had been slapped across the face, he took a step back and looked up at Evans, "Me? He called you a…a…my fault!"

"You couldn't just leave him alone! You had to ridicule him in front of everyone! If you hadn't, he would never have said that! If you hadn't, I'd still have my best friend!" With that strangled sentence she turned on her heel and ran off, Mary and Aiza hurrying after her.

"Mate-" Sirius reached for James' shoulder as Peter seemed to be trying to merge with the banister.

"Forget what I said earlier. I'm done."

Sirius didn't ask what James was exactly done with as his friend snapped around and hurtled down the stairs, and none of the joy he thought at having the prank back on came.

He glanced at Remus who looked just as disappointed, turning, and making his way up the staircases, his shoulders drooping.

"I thought Lily said Mary was her best friend." Sirius turned to Peter, his watery blue eyes filled with confusion and Sirius had to stop himself from thumping the boy on the back of the head in exasperation.

"Come on Wormy. We have lots of planning to do."

A/N: So just a heads up to anyone who found the talk about hermaphrodite's offensive, I of course do not share the immature views of Sirius Aiza, James and Peter. I felt a bit disgusted writing stuff I don't agree with, and was in two minds about it, but for plot reasons left this in. I also thought it would be reflective of how careless one can be with words when young, and just because they're Gryffindors, it doesn't make them perfect - they're flawed, but there's definitely room for growth from all of them.

How are you guys feeling the story so far?

Reviews are always appreciated!

Kalina