"You need to be nicer to her," Griffin snaps at Parker after Satlynn leaves in a huff.
"Why?" Parker asks, leaning back in his seat boredly.
"Because she's my friend and now she's pissed at me for being friends with you," Griffin explains.
"Oh, right. So it's all about you? Look, there's no point being nice to girls if you've already been there, done that," Parker counters with a shrug. "Besides, it wasn't even that great," he adds under his breath. Griffin frowns, not wanting to think about the implications of that last remark.
"Doesn't it bother you that girls always hate you afterwards?" Griffin asks, staring at Parker in disbelief.
Griffin can't imagine having someone hate him that much and not even feeling bad about it.
"Not really. Most girls get annoying after a while, anyway," Parker says. "I don't mind if they hate me afterwards. At least they leave me alone."
"Damn," James remarks, "you really don't hold back, Banks."
"What? I'm not that bad," Parker says innocently. "Sirius does it too. He taught me all this shit."
"Well apparently he doesn't do it anymore," Griffin mutters.
"Oh, he'll get bored eventually," Parker assures them.
"Hm," James says skeptically.
"How is it that our entire compartment somehow ended up in this one, all of the sudden?!" Sirius demands as he flings open the sliding door and shoots James, Parker, and Griffin a suspicious stare. James and Parker share an uneasy look; Griffin is sure neither of them wants to share the fact that Sirius and Penny are driving them all insane.
"Uh..." Parker says hesitantly, brushing blonde curls out of his eyes.
"They're all annoyed by you," Wanda Bradwell - who has been sitting silently in the corner of the compartment reading a book this entire time - pipes up suddenly. Griffin tries to conceal a smirk by pretending to itch his nose; the bluntness of the remark was refreshing.
"What?" Sirius asks with a frown, looking around and trying to catch one of his friends' eyes. They all look down and pretend to be very interested in the floor.
"They think you're too flirty with your new flame," Marty Incellio says boredly without looking up from his camera.
"Nice alliteration," Wanda remarks.
"Thanks."
"Eavesdroppers!" Parker snaps.
"It's really not eavesdropping since you commandeered our compartment and started shouting your grievances," Marty points out coolly. Griffin is sure that Marty, who has been Parker's roommate for five years now, is used to standing up to him. Griffin's impressed.
"Fuck off," Parker mumbles. He glances warily at Sirius, who is still loitering in the doorway. Sirius looks awkward, and Griffin feels a twinge of satisfaction that he, James and Parker are allied against him and he looks a bit stupid. Although Sirius seems irritatingly unbothered about looking stupid.
"So...you guys think me and Penny are annoying?" Sirius asks, shooting James a questioning look. James groans and glares at Marty and Wanda.
"Well, no, not all the time," James says, and Sirius finally closes the door and sits between James and Marty.
"Just - you know. Maybe tone it down a little," James says.
"Or a lot," Parker mutters.
"I mean, we can do that. We kept it on the down low last year. It's just nice to have it all out in the open," Sirius says with a shrug.
"Last year?" Griffin finds himself asking sharply. Sirius turns to look at him, a guilty expression crossing his face.
"Oh. Uh - I don't think I was supposed to tell you that," he mumbles. Griffin just glares at him and grinds his teeth together as he tries to organize his thoughts to figure out what questions to ask. Before he can come up with an appropriate one, Penny bursts through the door.
"Oh my God, she drives me insane!" she fumes as she rams open the door and lets it bounce forcefully off the wall. She glares around the compartment and looks confused to see Wanda and Marty, but reluctantly takes a seat between Parker and Wanda.
"Who drives you insane?" James asks casually. He seems grateful for the subject change.
"Satlynn," Penny snaps as she winds her arms into a tight cross. Griffin glances over at Parker, who studies his fingernails disinterestedly. A twinge of annoyance hits Griffin suddenly; Parker doesn't seem to care at all about Satlynn, despite the fact that he was all she talked about for a long time last year.
"It didn't go well, then?" Sirius asks, leaning his elbows on his knees to be closer to Penny, who's across the aisle from him. Penny sighs dramatically.
"No. She's still mad at me, even though I didn't do anything to her," Penny says, and she meets Griffin's eyes unexpectedly. He pats his hair self-consciously, not sure why Penny's looking at him accusingly. Sirius seems confused, too, as he looks from Penny to Griffin and back again.
"Sorry to hear that, Pencake," Sirius tells her. Parker coughs loudly.
"What?" Sirius snaps at him, knowing that the cough meant something.
"No more cutesy nicknames," Parker barks at him. Penny whips her head around to glare at Parker.
"Fuck off, Banks! He can call me whatever he wants!" she says. She turns to Sirius. "Right?" she asks him.
"Well - yeah. But uh…" Sirius says, glancing at James.
"What?" Penny demands when no one says anything. James sighs.
"We just think you two could tone down your romance a little," James admits at last, wincing a little as he anticipates a blowup from Penny. Penny glances around the room, her eyes wide with surprise as she looks at Sirius, then James, then Griffin, then Parker. Griffin makes sure to keep his eyes trained on the floor, worried she'll snap at him if he looks at her.
"...Oh," she says at last. "Well. I guess we can do that." She sounds disappointed. Griffin is irritated, suddenly, by these two again; they're just, like, acting like it's the end of the absolute fucking world that they can't make out every three seconds anymore.
"I gotta go," Griffin says abruptly, standing up and scrambling out of the compartment before he can think twice about where he's going. He came to this compartment to take a break from his friends, and, ironically, they're all here now, so he's got to leave.
He wanders aimlessly - nodding to a few acquaintances, and he glances into the windows of the other compartments. He doesn't realize he's looking for Satlynn until he finds her sitting on the floor of an empty compartment. He slides the door open tentatively.
"Hey," he mumbles to her. Satlynn glares at him; she looks terrifying - there's mascara smeared deep under her eyes, giving her the appearance of a crazed villain. Griffin decides to ignore her hostility and takes a seat on the floor across from her.
"I heard you and Penny talked," he says flatly as he leans his head back against the seat.
"That's one way to put it," Satlynn grumbles. A beam of sunlight streams through the compartment window and makes Satlynn's bright blonde hair gleam. Griffin notices that she's put some waves in it. He feels a bit sorry for her, all of the sudden - she always puts so much effort into her appearance, but no one seems to appreciate it. He knows what that's like now, since he's started doing his own hair instead of just letting it flop wherever it wants.
"Your hair looks nice," Griffin says. She looks like she could use the validation. Satlynn glances at him, looking leery.
"...Okay," she says.
"Maybe you should try to get along with her again," Griffin says, trying to be gentle since Satlynn's prone to outbursts.
"I mean, you have to live together for three more years," he reasons.
"Don't remind me," Satlynn mutters. She sighs and wipes at her left eye. Griffin winces as she smears her makeup even more.
"It's hard to be friends with Penny," Satlynn admits at last. Griffin pulls his sock up a little on his heel and waits for her to continue.
"She's just...intense. Intensely happy, intensely sad, intensely angry. She's loud. She talks over me. She makes me feel like my opinion doesn't matter. She's hopeless in the fashion department, but she always looks nice, anyway, which is infuriating. She does stupid things and never gets in trouble when she breaks the rules. Joining quidditch catapulted her into the world of cool people, and she was never intimidated by the boys, even though by all conventions, she should have been," Satlynn explains. She looks down at her pink nail polish as she talks.
"And then last year, I really wanted a boyfriend. That was like, my goal. I had always wanted Parker to notice me. But then of course, Penny got a boyfriend before I did, which pissed me off. And then she didn't even appreciate you, which pissed me off even more. And then we found out that she'd kissed someone else, and I just couldn't handle her anymore. She gets whatever she wants and she does whatever she wants, and there are never any consequences for her," Satlynn continues.
"Hm," Griffin says as he tries to think of a response. It sounds like she's envious of Penny. Who, Griffin realizes, does kind of take for granted everything that she has. Or maybe Satlynn's just jealous that Penny is so secure in who she is, while Satlynn is insecure - but of course, he can't say that to her.
"Yeah, Penny is intense," Griffin agrees. "To be honest, I was a little relieved when we broke up. She can be fun, but she's also a bit...exhausting." Satlynn just stares at him blankly.
"Being her friend might be exhausting, but hating her is probably exhausting, too. I don't know, maybe it would benefit you to at least try to be civil with her," Griffin suggests with a shrug. "You don't have to be best friends, but I don't want you to waste your energy hating her."
"What else do I have to expend energy on? School?" Satlynn asks hopelessly. Griffin studies her for a while. Does she really have nothing she'd rather be doing than hating Penny?! Wouldn't she at least rather do something fun?
"You could join a club, or something," Griffin suggests lamely. Satlynn snorts.
"Like what? Gossips Anonymous?"
"Is that a real thing?" Griffin asks.
"Yeah, Griffin. It's a real thing. We meet twice a week and sit in silence," Satlynn says sarcastically.
"Okay, so don't join a club then," Griffin says, trying not to get too irritated with her when he's trying to help her.
"You could try to find a boyfriend," he suggests. Satlynn laughs dryly.
"Oh, sure. Let's go pick one out at the store," she says coldly.
"Well, it can't be that hard! I mean you're - nice... sometimes," Griffin says.
"Wonderful. I'm ready to win over all the boys with my sometimes nice personality."
Griffin sighs. "Okay, fine. Scratch that idea. I'm just concerned because Taman and Ziph are prefects now, and I don't know how often they'll be around."
Satlynn glares at him.
"Yes, I'm aware that this year is going to be friendless and horrible for me. Thank you for the reminder."
"Okay, sorry I brought it up."
There's a silence and Griffin fiddles absently with his shoelaces.
"So. How did you and Parker end up all buddy-buddy?" Satlynn asks, her voice hard and bitter as she glares out the window.
"Oh," Griffin says, scratching at his temple uncomfortably. He feels like answering this question is a trap.
"It's fine," Satlynn says. "I'm probably not going to see you very much this year, anyway. If you want to be best mates with Parker, it's not the end of the world. I'll live."
Griffin frowns. It feels like she's accusing him of abandoning her - which he's not. It's not his fault he has other friends. She's always known that quidditch is important to him; it's not like his friendship with Parker - a teammate - is a complete surprise.
"You'll see me," Griffin says defensively.
"Right."
"Okay, well, if you must know, Parker and I started hanging out this summer when he asked the team 'round to his place. He's got a great yard for scrimmaging. After that, I just started coming around to practice, and then we'd hit the gym afterwards, and then we started going out afterwards, or playing video games, or just hanging out - and I guess now we're friends," Griffin explains.
"I see," Satlynn says.
"Oh, you were right about Sirius and Penny, by the way. Sirius came to the compartment and James told him that he and Penny need to stop being so annoying all the time, and he said something like, 'oh, we can do that. We kept it on the down low last year,'" Griffin explains.
Satlynn raises her eyebrows; it appears her interest has been piqued now that the conversation has turned to gossip.
"Ah-ha," she says, "I knew it. So, what do you think?"
Griffin looks at her cluelessly. "About what?"
"Well, do you think she cheated on you with him?" Satlynn demands.
"I dunno," Griffin says. "Does it matter? It all worked out for them, anyway."
"Yeah, but it didn't work out for you!" Satlynn says indignantly.
"I'm fine."
"Okay," Satlynn says skeptically.
"I'm serious! Like I said, it was kind of a relief to be done with her," Griffin says.
Satlynn gives him a skeptical look. "Yeah, you seemed really relieved that day on the sixth-floor window seat." Griffin shoots her a sour look; he doesn't need to be reminded of his brief heartbreak.
"I think it was for the best," he clarifies. Satlynn frowns, and Griffin wonders if she's staked a lot of her anger with Penny on his heartbreak. Maybe it's a shock to her to see that he's doing fine and that he and Parker have been having a great time together. Maybe that's why she's so weird and angry.
Griffin looks up when he hears someone opening the door to the compartment.
"Hey!" Taman says breathlessly as he scurries into the compartment. He gives them a weird look. "What are you guys doing? Making out?"
"Oh. Yes, obviously," Griffin says sarcastically, giving Taman a 'what-the-fuck' look.
"Well, why are you sitting on the floor?" Taman asks defensively.
"We're having mental breakdowns," Satlynn explains, and she hoists herself up onto the seat. Griffin follows suit so he can sit next to Taman.
"Right. Naturally," Taman says knowingly. Griffin nods.
"How was the meeting?" Griffin asks.
"Yeah. And where's Ziph?" Satlynn inquires.
"Meeting was stressful. It's a lot to remember. But I can handle it," Taman says. Griffin's never seen him looking so confident; he's really coming into his own. His Indian relatives would be proud.
"Ziph is - somewhere. I don't know. I think she had to stay later to talk to the other Gryffindor girls about some dorm rules, or something," he explains.
"Evans is head girl - she's really organized," Taman says, sounding awestruck. Satlynn giggles, probably because only Taman would be awestruck by someone's organizational skills.
"I think Candace Folwell is upset she didn't get head girl," Taman says, his voice dropping to conspiratory levels. "And Oliver Barritt is mad, too, because Brett Partridge is head boy."
"Ooh, he's kind of cute," Satlynn pipes up. "And now he's in a position of power…" she says dreamily to herself, and Griffin rolls his eyes at her sudden interest in Brett Partridge, of all people.
"Oh, the Hufflepuffs will live. It's about time someone else enforced the rules, anyway. Hufflepuffs always get to be heads," Griffin says. He's weirdly proud that one of the Gryffindor prefects got to be head girl. Go Evans.
"So, who are the other prefects from our year?" Satlynn asks. She seems to be in a much better mood now that they're talking about other people.
Griffin zones out as Taman starts rattling off the names of the prefects from the other houses. He watches Satlynn listen with rapt interest and wonders if he should tell her how fucked up her makeup is. Probably not a good idea, he decides.
He wonders briefly if he should try to find his friends again, but then as he glances over at Taman and Satlynn, he realizes he's already with his friends.
Notes:
Hi! It looks like two people read this story. Thank you so much! I'm honored you took the time to read it.
This is a short chapter that should have been tacked onto the last one but for some reason I forgot to add it. I think I will have 2-3 more chapters about Satlynn and then that will be it!
There were a few scenes that I cut from the original Penny story that I might also post here as extras.
Thank you!
-Giant Squid