1
Charlotte took the last step onto the train after the red-head, leaving her parents behind her, her mother waving, a familiar smile on her face while her father glanced around the shiny red surface of the Hogwarts Express, the steam filling the platform around them. Every year it was like he was seeing it for the first time, the train hidden behind the solid wall of the secret platform, the wizards all clutching wands beneath their cloaks.
The two girls lugged their over-filled trunks down the skinny corridor, scanning half empty compartments as they went, looking for anyone tolerable to spend the train ride to school with.
"No Petunia?" Charlotte asked, gently, remembering the strained relationship her friend shared with her sister. The two Gryffindor's had met first year, naturally, sharing a dormitory and nearly all of their classes. It wasn't until last year that they had become close friends, after Lily had gone no-contact with her previous best friend, the greasy-haired Slytherin boy, Severus Snape.
"Course not." Lily answered at once, as if it was obvious. "I'm sure she'll even be busy for my funeral."
"Don't be morbid." Charlotte nudged her elbow lightly as Lily shrugged.
"All of these compartments are full, I really just need to drop my stuff, I'm going to miss the Prefect meeting-"
Before she could finish, the door they had just passed slid open, revealing a brown-haired boy, towering over them and shooting Lily an easy smile.
"If we move quick, he won't notice you-" The boy stalled as the door shook beneath his grip.
"Evans!" James Potter sounded nearly out of breath, as if he had pounced across the compartment to greet the red-head, although Charlotte was sure that was a likely explanation. "Good summer? You can come sit with us-"
"We've got the Prefect meeting, James." The tall boy replied as Lily sighed.
"Oh, that's right." James sounded let down, finally looking to Charlotte. His eyes scanned to her boots and back to her face quickly before his face lit back up in the familiar James Potter grin. "You a Prefect too? Harris, right?"
"You know Charlotte." Lily explained, sounding annoyed, although Charlotte thought it entirely possible that the Marauders would have no idea who she was, and she was fine with it that way.
Or so she had thought. She pulled her focus off the tall boy before them, looking to James who was still staring at her, as if waiting for a formal introduction.
"Charlotte." She held out her free hand, the other still gripping her trunk tightly, fingers threatening to fall off any second now.
"James Potter." He explained, obviously not realizing that the entire school knew his name. "This is Remus." He nodded towards the tall boy who was stepping aside to stand near Lily, obviously just as nervous as the red-head about being late for their first Prefect meeting of the year.
"Hi." Charlotte replied, stupidly, resisting the urge to smack her hand to her forehead. Remus nodded once and offered her a small smile.
"Why don't you sit with us while you wait for Lily?" James offered eagerly, Remus hardly containing an eye roll as Charlotte attempted to turn her chuckle into a cough.
"What?" The messy haired boy wheeled around towards Remus.
"Nothing." He answered, nudging Lily down the hallway.
"Here, Lil." Charlotte offered her open hand, taking Lily's luggage and struggling towards the compartment where two more boys were waiting, laughter echoing through the small space.
"I've got them." James muttered, grabbing both of the trunks from Charlotte and throwing them easily to the top shelf above their seats. "You guys know Charlotte?" He asked, falling lazily into a seat next to the short blonde boy.
"No." The boy squeaked out before James could shoot him a glare.
"Yeah," The dark-haired boy lied, nodding over to Charlotte, a smile spread across half his face as she took the open spot on the bench next to him. He was slouched against the wall, his legs spread out on the seat, dark black boots laced up in giant knots before her. "I'm Sirius."
"Charlotte." She smiled, feeling extremely shy all of the sudden. She had been planning on spending the train ride with Marlene and Mary, the three of them waiting patiently for Lily to return, not surrounded by three of the most popular boys of their year who had only just learned her name after five years of school together.
"You and Lily been friends for a while, Charlotte?" James asked, failing to sound casual.
"I guess, a little. We only really got close last spring... After..." She trailed off, knowing exactly what had happened to make the girls grow so close.
"Oh, you're her replacement Snivellus?" Sirius smirked as the blonde girl fell silent.
"Sirius." James warned, his voice low as he shot the boy a look.
"Oh, come on," Sirius grinned, "Evan's isn't here, and I'm sure Charlotte doesn't hold any love for Death Eaters. Do you, Charlotte?"
Her eyes flickered to James and Peter, who were both waiting for her answer, even if James looked ready to change the subject at any moment.
"Snape's awful. All of them are, his little posse." She answered at last, "Lily's better off rid of him."
"There, see?" Sirius reached across the bench and patted the girls knee warmly. "You're alright, blondie."
"Sirius, try not to be a flirt for just five minutes?" Peter rolled his eyes, looking to James who shared a grin with the blonde boy.
"Am I bothering you, love?" Sirius had leaned back against the seat behind him once again, his gray eyes boring into her blue ones.
"No, you're fine." She answered at once, playing with the hem on her skirt.
"How'd your O.W.L's go?" James asked, leaning back and mimicking Sirius's position on the bench, the two of them looking more than comfortable in the small train compartment.
"They went well." She nodded, looking between the three of them. "I thought I would really blow it on Potions, but Lily studied with me for hours a day the week before. She's a lifesaver."
"Isn't she?" James sighed, dramatically, for only a second before Sirius chucked his balled up jacket into the brunette's face.
"Mine weren't great." Peter replied with a shrug. "Barely got into Potions at all. Or transfiguration. McGonnagall's such a-"
"Saint!" James and Sirius cut him off, their grins lighting up as their words combined.
"Did alright with Magical Creatures though." Peter grinned, shooting the two boys a knowing look as they nodded.
"How'd you do, Pads?" James asked, Charlotte scanning the room, her eyes finally landing on Sirius as he spoke. Apparently he was Pads.
"Practically perfect." His voice sounded teasing, but his face was serious. "Eight OWL's, still nothing to catch Mum and Dad's attention."
"I'm sure they're proud, they're just too awful to show it." James said.
"You?" Sirius asked after a moment of James not offering up his own results.
"Nine." The boy shrugged before the door slid open again, Lily and the boy James had introduced as Remus stepping into the now crowded compartment.
"Moony, how'd your OWL's go?" Sirius asked, sounding like he already knew how the answer.
Remus let Lily take a seat first, squeezing into a spot between Charlotte and the window, causing Charlotte to slide a bit closer to Sirius. Her eyes returned to Remus, his head practically reaching the ceiling of the small room before he sat down between James and Peter. His eyes flashed to Charlotte's across from him before quickly looking back to Sirius.
"Eleven." He answered, shortly, and with a shrug that matched James' from before.
Sirius let out a low whistle which was nearly inaudible over Lily's gasp.
"Me too, Rem!" She exclaimed, excitedly. "I thought I was doomed for Arithmancy, I couldn't believe it when I got my results."
"We all knew you'd get all of your OWL's, Evans. You should have just asked us." James leaned forward in his spot, trying to catch Lily's eye.
"Well, thank you, James." She answered, turning her gaze back to Charlotte.
"Are you taking all of your classes, then?" Charlotte asked the room, specifically looking at Remus.
"Not all of them." He answered, softly.
"Remus, no!" Lily whined, "Which ones? We could have studied together!"
"I'm skipping Astronomy, Ancient Runes, Divination-"
"That's-"
"And Arithmancy." He finished with a small grin as the red-head looked outraged.
"Remus, why study so hard if you didn't even want to take the classes!" She threw her hands up in defeat.
"Maybe I like a challenge, Lils." He replied.
"Or maybe he doesn't want his final two years at Hogwarts to be all school and no play." Sirius smiled wickedly towards the girls, earning matching eye rolls from Remus and Lily.
☾
The girls sat two to a side at dinner, the food magically appearing before them as soon as Dumbledore had taken his seat at the front of the room. The first week of classes had gone fine, some might even have said well, but the second...
"I'm already exhausted, I don't know what I would do without these free periods." Mary whined, moving some vegetables around on her plate dramatically as Charlotte and Marlene held back laughter.
"I don't know how Lily's doing it." Marlene mentioned in between bites of her own dinner. "Eleven classes, do you even get breaks?"
"I get two." She nodded.
"All week?" Mary's eyes went wide. "I would die!"
"Helps with time management." Lily shrugged, "Have to get all my work done before Remus and I have Prefect duty Tuesdays and Thursdays."
"And now we have that dinner party next week with Slughorn." Charlotte added, cringing a bit inside. How she got roped into a dinner party with a bunch of rich and impressive strangers, she would never know.
"You act like he invited us for tea in Hell." Lily laughed, taking a sip of her juice. "It's just dinner. Slughorn's nice!"
"He would never have noticed me if I hadn't been sat next to you in his class." Charlotte shot Lily a knowing smile which Lily shrugged off, shaking her head.
"How could anyone not notice you, blondie?" Sirius's voice was far too loud for being so close, his voice attracting glances up and down the Gryffindor table as he fell into the empty space beside the blonde Gryffindor.
"Well, how could they not with you screaming like that?" She shot back with a stern look which had no effect on Sirius Black's smirk.
"Sorry, you prefer if I whisper?" He dropped his voice low and leaned a bit closer towards her face, his gray eyes locked to her own.
"I suppose that's a bit better, yeah." She joked, turning away and finishing her dinner, Marlene and Mary not bothering to suppress their grins. Sirius Black was a known flirt, having already worked his way through many of the girls in every house except Slytherin, where they all considered him a blood traitor. Which is why Mary and Marlene loved to watch Charlotte snub Sirius's advances, whether she realized what they were or not.
"You wound me, Char." The soft words fell from his lips against the blonde's ear as she finally turned back to face him, catching sight of Remus behind him and ignoring the way her heart sped up. Sirius watched her eyes go wide, smirking for a second that he had gotten her attention at last, before following her gaze to his fellow Marauder, the smile sliding from his face at once.
"Well, we'll see you lot upstairs." He announced, loudly again, hurrying to catch his friends, throwing one arm each around James and Remus as they left the Hall.
"It's too good, watching that." Mary laughed, throwing her bag over her shoulder as she climbed to her feet, the three girls following her.
"Watching what?" Charlotte asked, fixing the strap of her bag on her shoulder as they started towards the doorway.
"Watching you blow him off like that!" Marlene explained, Lily smiling along beside her.
Charlotte looked between them all for a second, confused. "Oh, Sirius?"
"Yes, Sirius, are you thinking of someone else?" Mary asked, her eyes wide as she watched the realization dawn on their blonde friend's face.
"No." She shook her head quickly. "And Sirius is only joking around. That's what he's like, you said so yourself Lily."
"Yeah, that's what he's like. When he fancies someone." She went on, offering Charlotte a shrug.
"Sirius Black does not fancy me." The blonde laughed back, scanning between her friends.
"Sirius Black fancies you." Marlene said, far too loud for the crowded hallway they were in.
"That's a real shame." A dark voice cut in, the four of them whirling around, Lily's face falling at once.
"Piss off, Severus." Mary replied at once, grabbing at Lily's shoulders to get the group moving again before Snape's pale hand wrapped around Lily's.
"Lil... Please..."
"Severus, I don't want to talk to you." She shook her head, her eyes not meeting his as she took a few tentative steps with Mary, Charlotte and Marlene stood between the two.
"I know you've been avoiding me."
"No, shit." Marlene huffed, earning a glare from the Slytherin. "Worked that one out all on your own?"
"Can I speak to her, alone?" He demanded, his voice sounding whiney.
"No, Snape. You can't. Now let her go before we hex you into next week." Mary cut in, looking fiercely up at the dark haired boy, despite being at least a foot shorter than him.
He scoffed, looking between the group as if he had been ready to speak before biting his tongue.
"Say it." Lily finally spoke again, meeting his gaze, her green eyes burning bright. "I know what you were going to say to Mary. You're disgusting. I can't believe I ever considered you my friend."
"Lily, I didn't say anything!" He shouted as the three girls scurried after the red-head up the first of many staircases to Gryffindor tower.
After what felt like twenty minutes of marching behind their friend, the four girls arrived outside of the portrait hole, offering the password and scrambling through.
"Woah, Evans. Who pissed in your Pumpkin Juice?" Sirius called from across the room, Lily shaking her head mostly to herself and heading directly for the staircase to the girls dorms without a word.
"What's wrong with her?" James eyes were laced with worry as the girls approached the couches the Marauders were sat upon, the fire already roaring in front of them, a few chocolate frog cards splayed out on the coffee table between Peter and James.
"Snape." Mary answered, chewing her lower lip and muttering something about checking on their friend before she started towards the stairs.
"Harris?" James glanced at the remaining two girls. "McKinnon?"
"We were talking about S-" Marlene stopped abruptly, glancing at Sirius and then Charlotte, painfully obvious. "Something, and Snape came up and made a rude comment. He asked if he could talk to Lily alone, and Mary said he couldn't and that if he didn't leave she would hex him. And then he laughed, and he almost said something back but caught himself. Lily's sure he was going to call Mary a... you know."
James run a hand through his hair, his jaw visibly clenched as Remus shook his head, scowling.
"He is such a prick, how many times do we have to teach Sniv a lesson?" Sirius spoke, sitting up in his seat.
"Don't get involved. It's just words. And he didn't really even say anything." Marlene sighed, crossing her arms. "We should get upstairs." She started towards the girls dorms, Charlotte moving to follow her when a hand caught her wrist, spinning her back towards the boys.
"Stay, blondie." Sirius said, "Stay up with us a while."
Charlotte looked back at Marlene, wide eyed, and Marlene held in a laugh, waving to her friend and calling out a goodnight to the boys.
"Night, Marls." Remus called, not looking up from his book.
"Why do you want me to stay up?" Charlotte looked to Sirius, forcing herself not to turn to Remus, even if she knew he wouldn't be looking.
"To hang out with you? Is that so terrible?" Sirius cocked an eyebrow to her, patting the small amount of space beside him on the arm chair.
"Let her go to bed if she's tired, Pads." Remus spoke, again, his eyes still scanning over the words on his page.
"I'm not very tired." She gave in, taking the empty spot on the couch beside Remus, eyes now watching James and Peter each throw down a card and grab at the others, scanning the back side of each.
"What'd Snape say that was rude?" James asked, looking to Charlotte now that his new card was tucked safely into his pocket.
"Oh," She trailed off. "I don't really remember. Didn't make much sense."
"It was an insult?" Sirius pressed, his gray eyes softening as he looked at her.
"I guess. You'll have to ask Lily, he was talking to her." She lied, hoping they would forget by morning. "What are you working on, Remus?" She kept her voice steady, finally allowing herself to turn her attention to the light haired boy. He had been quiet since they had entered the common room, pages flipping quickly beneath his slender fingers which Charlotte could now see were laced with silver faded scars. She followed them up towards his wrist and wondered how far up his arm they went past the sleeves of his thick sweater.
He looked up, confusion painting his face. "Not working." He answered, sliding a scrap of parchment into his spot in the book and shutting it in his lap. "It's Catcher in the Rye."
"Oh," She glanced at the book, recognizing it now from her father's bookshelves at home. "I haven't read that one."
Remus nodded, not answering her, glancing around the group for someone else to speak.
"How are lessons going, blondie?" Sirius took up the task, kicking his feet up to the table before them.
"They're alright." She shrugged, tucking her legs before her on the couch, ignoring the sting of the terrible conversation with Remus.
"Well, Slughorn obviously thinks you're excelling in Potions." James grinned. "You're coming to the dinner with us next week?"
She groaned, slapping a hand over her eyes as the boys laughed. "I don't know how I got roped into that. If he only knew how hard Lily had to work to get me to pass Potions last year."
"You're doing fine." Sirius replied. "Haven't blown anything up yet."
"Yes, from the master of blowing things up." Peter chimed in, Sirius chucking a pillow at the boys head, knocking him back on the ground, laughter taking over the group.
"I guess it won't be so bad if you're all going. I thought I wouldn't know anyone but Lily-"
"I'm not." Peter grumbled, sitting back up and leaning the pillow against the couch next to him out of Sirius's reach.
"Me neither, Pete." Remus answered, offering the shorter boy a warm smile.
"Not yet, guys. Just wait until our first exam when you blow everyone away-" James shot Remus a look and the tall boy shrugged.
"I'm not going either." Sirius replied, leaning back on his interlocked hands in his seat.
"What do you mean you're not going?" James shouted, eyeing his best friend.
"It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Sirius chuckled, glancing to Remus with a grin. "Bunch of rich boys and Slughorn's favorites chumming it up over dinner? On a Friday night? I'll pass. Sorry, Prongs."
"Is Lily going?" James looked to Charlotte, his eyes wide behind his glasses as Charlotte let out a small laugh.
"Definitely. She loves Slughorn."
"Well, you let me know if you'd like a way out of a night of boredom, blondie." Sirius shot her a wink and Peter groaned under his breath. "You can spend the night with the fun Marauders." He smirked at James as his jaw dropped.
"Is it my fault that I'm devilishly handsome, Quidditch captain and good at potions?" James sighed dramatically, earning a laugh from the group as the sun went down over the forest outside.