I carefully wove myself through the crowds of people who had congregated around platform nine and three quarters. Despite the fact this was the fifth year of being on the platform on the first of September, it was still the same. It was so good to be back in a place where I felt like I belonged, instead of whiling away the summer at my mother’s townhouse, wondering when she would return from her date with the latest toy boy. To be fair, anything could be considered better than that.
With a pang in my heart, I was reminded of my father. He was an auror you know, one of the best. That was how he died, risking himself to save others, like any noble Gryffindor should. Well, apart from me, that was. I didn't particularly feel bold or courageous; yet, I ended up in the house where those traits are practically ingrained into your DNA. I probably got that from my mother, as she was a Ravenclaw.
I was so busy wrapped up in my thoughts that I failed to see two boys with wild black hair running towards me. They looked like they'd been racing each other to see whose trolley could get to the train fastest. "OW!" All three of us collided and formed a bundle of bodies and luggage on the floor. I raised my head so I could see who the culprits of the crime were, but I already had a sinking feeling in my stomach about who they were.
Sirius Black and James Potter of course. I mean, who else would it be?
I had always had a dislike for the pair of them. James Potter had been following my best friend, Lily Evans, around like a little lost puppy since first year. A week didn't pass by without him asking her out. You know what they say about fiery redheads, so you could probably picture Lily’s reaction to his ever frequent requests now.
Sirius Black, Potter’s ever loyal sidekick, was no better. While trying to help James in gaining his conquest, Black's assistance seems to end up hindering the situation rather than helping it. Last year he tied them together with magical handcuffs for a day.
Those two could be mistaken for twins; both were exceedingly tall, had dark hair and were very good-looking, though Black was slightly better looking than Potter.
I had somehow managed to land directly on top of Black to my utmost horror. I wouldn’t have been the first girl to be in that position if the rumours were true. All the girls in the school idolised those two, and they were constantly chasing after both. My face turned beetroot red with realisation of what it must look like to the onlookers, and I quickly pulled myself up from the ground.
“Why so quick to get away Longwood? Am I really that horrific?” Sirius asked with his typical smirk on his face, while getting up off the floor.
“No, not on the contrary. I just don’t want to be associated with those dim-witted blondes you usually socialise with,” I retorted.
He had slight pained expression on his face, but that quickly disappeared when he replied, “I wouldn’t always believe what the rumours say, Longwood. How can I be dark and mysterious, when the entire school knows about my supposed love life?”
He had a fair point there, but I wasn’t prepared to lose an argument to him. “Rumours must have some basis. They don’t just appear from nowhere, Black.” Sirius didn’t reply, and appeared to be musing about what I had said.
James had gotten up from the floor and had begun to head over to us. I didn’t particularly want to have to deal with him either, so without waiting for Black’s reply, I turned around and headed over to the train to look for my friends.
Walking down the entire length of the train with my trunk constantly banging against my legs wasn’t my ideal plan. As well as having to avoid eager first years running to and fro eagerly making new friends, I had to duck past the Marauders’ compartment,as I didn’t particularly want to deal with them again.
I finally found my friends at the very end of the train who were all peering over the same copy of a muggle magazine. I guess Lily and Mary were trying to indoctrinate us into another muggle thing then. They always tried to make us like it, but it just left the rest of us feeling confused.
This was where we first became friends, Lily and me, on the Hogwarts express. She was upset, because her sister couldn't accept that she was a witch. I was upset about my mother not being there. I guess we had a thing in common, and from then on, she's had to put up with me.
As for the other three, Lily, being the outgoing person that she was, spoke to them on the first breakfast of first year. She spotted them sitting alone at the Gryffindor table, rounded them up and made them eat with us. Ever since then we had all been friends.
I wrenched open the door to the compartment and collapsed into the seat nearest to it, still wound up about my incident with Sirius earlier.
“You took your time," Lily said, looking up from the magazine. "I have to go to my prefect meeting soon." Then she saw my face, which must have still been red. "What made you angry already? You haven’t got into any fights yet, have you? I don’t want you to be the first person I have to give a detention to!”
“Well, if you guys hadn’t chosen the furthest compartment from the barrier I may have gotten here earlier. And don’t remind me, it was just Black and Potter up to their usual antics of pretending to be five year olds. Don’t worry Lily; I stormed off to look for you guys before it became violent,” I replied.
“Thank Merlin for that. I’ll be off now I don’t have to imagine you missing the train as you threw Black under it. I have to go to the prefects meeting so don't have too much fun without me.” Lily said whilst walking out the door.
It was no surprise to anyone, that she was the new prefect. She was always top of the year in everything, never got into trouble and always so kind and friendly to everyone. Perfect prefect material.
“Wait! Who’s the Gryffindor prefect for the boys?” I called out, but Lily was already too far away to reply.
“Remus of course," Mary said to me, grinning. "Do you think Dumbledore would have really picked one of the other three? Potter and Black play too many pranks and spend half their life in detention. If Pettigrew was made a prefect, the first years would run wild!”
Mary was our resident Scot. Technically she was half-Italian thanks to her mum, but Mary considered herself Scottish and was very proud of it. She didn't sound Italian at all, and the only way you could tell, was due to her colouring. Then again, she did live in Norwich, so she didn’t sound that Scottish either.
“Oh yeah, of course it’d be Remus. It’s just a shame he’ll be spending less time in the common room this year due to all the patrols he’ll have to do." I reply, directing the last part towards Maia. She'd secretly liked him since the end of last year and, had now begun to turn a similar shade of red I'd been after landing on top of Sirius.
“I thought we agreed you couldn’t tease me about it too much?” Maia asked, with a pleading look upon her face.
Maia was always the one the boys wanted, thanks to her being half Brazilian, and having amazing looks as a result of it. Remus, however, had done a fine job of ignoring her, despite her beauty. Though they were sort of friends, and seemed to get along well, we could all tell that she hoped that there would be something more
"Fine, but it’s just so much fun to do!" I said.
I felt sorry for Remus. It was a shame he was ill all of the time. He was the only Marauder who was friendly and capable of a somewhat normal conversation. I really did hope that he and Maia got together this year.
The only downfall to that would be that the Marauders would be around us more and I wasn't sure if I could cope with that.
"What was that you guys were all looking at then, before I came in?" I asked trying to change the subject and give Maia a break.
"Oh, it's just this article about this new actor. Lily thought he was cute. I mean, just look at him!" Mary said sounding outraged someone could like him. I just laughed back, eager not to provoke an annoyed Mary.
“You know Lily’s taste in guys is always a bit weird, she’s friends with Snape, after all! How was your summer then, Mary?” I asked, as I knew she had been worried about being out of Hogwarts security, due to her being a half-blood.
“It was fine. After we all met up at Alice’s, Dad dragged us off to go and visit Uncle Magnus in Dundee, and I had to listen to how unfair it was that the ban on Creaothceann wasn’t lifted. Mum was getting really worried about the blood supremacy stuff, as she’s a muggleborn, so she whisked us off to Rimini to visit Nonna. Of course I got fattened up, and I don’t know how I’ll be able to play quidditch now.” Mary rubbed her hand against her flat stomach. I should have known not to believe her, she was prone to exaggeration at times.
“Sounds like you had a better holiday than me," Alice chirped up. "Mum and Dad were at work most of the time, so I had to look after Tom. I’ll tell you it was possibly the most boring holiday I’ve ever had. Yours sounded so much more interesting in comparison, so feel for me.” Alice put on a convincing pout to prove her point.
It was funny to see Alice being the one who was asking for sympathy, as she was usually the one who gave it out liberally. I loved Alice, with her cropped hair and adorable personality. She reminded me of a pixie. She was just always there for everyone.
“Yes, I know how it feels to be stuck in a house all day long, and it’s certainly not fun at all! Don’t complain Mary, your holiday sounded great,” I replied, but I knew it would be a lost cause, as Mary was prone to exaggeration at times.
“At least you don’t have to fear being killed if you stepped outside the house, and have to listen to my mum’s shrieks whenever I do so!” Mary burst out. Of course she would try to make a joke out of a gang of pureblood supremacists, hunting down people like her.
“True. At least I don’t have to deal with that,” I agreed, and pulled my book out of my bag, knowing it would help diffuse Mary’s anger if I read instead. Lily’s cat, Calliope, who had been sitting next to my bag, gave out a light growl when I moved it. I couldn’t do anything to please that cat. It always seemed to love the others, yet it held a grudge against me. Oh well, I never particularly liked cats. Dogs always looked like a lot more fun.
One thing I was certainly sure of: between the potential romance and the threat of the Death Eaters, this was bound to be an interesting year.
A/N: This is an edited version so if it's different you now know why! You got to meet all of Thalia's friends then, so what did you think of them? And her encounter with Sirius?
If you want to be awesome, you could leave me a review ;D
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