Disclaimer - Although I would love to own the characters, songs, places and general situations in my fics, I don't. The only ones I own are Caroline, Suzie and Sarah, and the rather non-existent plot. Otherwise, I would be lying back in my large indoor champagne-filled jacuzzi, reading my own books.
As it is, I am sitting at the computer in my dressing gown, with my nine- year-old brother in the background, with a stinking cold, just having had a grade 4 singing exam. Enough of my ranting. On with the story!
Chapter 1: Thoughts
Suzanne Gibson, pureblood, known as Suzie to her friends, family, and anyone who didn't know her name through a register, was lying in her four-poster in the 7th year Gryffindor Girls' dorm after the first day of her seventh and last year at Hogwarts.
She sighed, thinking about the day. First, there came the news that her friend, Lily Evans, was Head Girl, and there had been a lot of squealing in reply to this, not least from her. Secondly, there was the train ride with her three friends, Sarah Davies, Caroline Hawling and Lily Evans, where Caroline had had to be subdued with a Stunner, after the amount of chocolate she had bought and subsequently consumed. This had become a ritual over the years, but was no less impressive for the repeating.
Then the Welcome Feast, where, after a long conversation with Remus Lupin, a fellow seventh year, Sarah had nearly spilled her pumpkin juice down her front because he'd said that she was more beautiful than anyone else. The conversation ended soon after this, as Caroline slapped Sirius Black for saying something along the same lines, but in Sirius-speak (i.e. you're way sexier than anyone, trust me on this, my foxy lady), and this had effectively diverted everyone's attention from them.
And then she remembered the sweet kiss from her boyfriend, Peter Pettigrew. They had been going out since the middle of the year before. He really was a nice guy, maybe not as adventurous as Potter, as out-spoken as Black, or as studious as Lupin, but perfect in his own way. She yawned dreamily, and drifted into sleep.
Sarah Davies, muggleborn, and proud, took her bookmark from between her teeth and marked the end of her chapter carefully, yawning a little. She placed the book on her bedside table, smiling to herself. She desperately wanted to know what happened next, but she knew she had to wait. It was getting late, and she had to work tomorrow.
She fished her timetable out from under her book and took a quick look at it. She had Potions, with Professor Slughorn and the Slytherins, all right, whatever, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, that was always interesting, History of Magic with Binns, boring boring, and free periods. Oh, and lunch. She smiled. A perfectly OK day.
She smiled again. Sarah loved books and stories, and was looking forward to the next instalment of the Caroline vs. Professor McGonagall saga of hatred as much as the next chapter of her book. It would certainly be acted out in the next day's lesson, as Caroline's way of saying she was glad to be back.
Sarah blushed as she remembered the stupid incident over the feast. She and Remus had been talking about magical creatures, and had somehow got onto the subject of Veela. Caroline and Black had sprung on the word, and the four had had a discussion about the beauty of Veela, which had led onto beauty itself. She had said something silly and self-deprecating, about how ugly she was, and Remus had said that it was not true, and that she was beautiful, more beautiful than anyone else, and she had nearly spilt her drink over herself. He was just being chivalrous, she told herself. It's stupid to overreact.
It was lovely that Lily was Head Girl. Not that it had been a big surprise; she had seen it coming since the first day, that first ride on the Hogwarts express. Lily had cleverly got the pair of them out of a rather sticky situation, and they had been best friends ever since.
Lily had all the qualities for Head Girl; she was kind, firm, a good listener, and also a good speaker. She was responsible, too, and organised. Sarah snorted. Two things, at least, that she had over Sarah.
Sarah yawned and put her timetable down again. She would have to make sure to put it back into her bag, she thought. She sank down into the pillows, thinking how wonderful it would be to have someone to organise her… Remus is very organised… the thought came unbidden from her tired brain, and she could feel herself blushing again as she fell asleep.
Caroline Hawling, half-blood and didn't care anyway, crawled under the covers, placing her feet on the headboard, and bringing the pillows to the other end of the bed. She always slept like this; it helped her to be difficult.
She remembered getting hyper on the train. It was fun to get hyper; it was like getting drunk – your inhibitions were lowered, but it was better, because you had no hang-overs. Oh, yes, and then she'd slapped Sirius Black over the feast, for a highly unchivalrous (was that a word? Did she care?) remark about her, well, her in general. Well, yes, it was true, but it wasn't nice to corrupt the ickle firsties.
Well, that's what she'd have told anyone else. But the truth was that she didn't want him to say something like that if he didn't really mean it. She certainly liked him, and it wasn't nice to lead someone on like that. Contrary to popular belief, she knew that Sirius wouldn't do that, so she had a hope, didn't she? Or maybe she'd judged his character wrong – it was always a possibility. She groaned and rolled over.
'Too many complex thoughts for this time of night…' she muttered, and fell asleep straight away.
Lily Evans, muggle through and through, and wished people would just stop going on about it, lay back onto her four-poster, bouncing slightly.
James Potter had been named as the new Head Boy. She would have to work with him all year. She snorted.She'dgo mad before Christmas.He wasn't a prefect; he lacked necessary qualities, such as the ability to be in the same room as Black without pranking all the Slytherins in sight. Or making pathetic jokes about ... well ... Lily's subconscious blushed.
He wasn't responsible or organised, he didn't even have a good, clean record; he'd been in more detentions than Lily could imagine. His only good points were that he was a good speaker, and he got on well with teachers! But surely that wasn't enough to make him Head Boy, was it?
Ugh. James Potter. The very bane of her existence. Put on this earth for the sole purpose of irritating her. He had the conscientiousness and manners of a small head louse.
But he was so unpredictable, he'd be perfectly nice one minute, mature, charming, even… and the next, he'd act like an out-of-control 3-year-old who had had too much sugar, and not enough sleep.
He'd be off partying every night, pranking every other lesson, nicking food, even after stuffing himself to bursting point at every meal, and if that wasn't bad enough, now that she was Head Girl, she had to do something about it. Whilst she wasn't scared of standing up to him, not by any means, it was just… futile. You'd tell him off, and a second later, he'd be doing it again. Louder. For your benefit.
She sighed, rather dramatically, if truth be told. Lily wasn't normally a melodramatic person; she was practical and sensible, but was she really sensible enough to keep Potter in line?
Maybe that was why Dumbledore had chosen her. She could do it, if she tried hard enough. But why he had also given Potter the privilege and power was beyond her. Lily stared over at the star-spangled sky through the window. She sat up; thinking about why on earth Dumbledore could have chosen him, and then the thought crossed her mind that this would look very romantic to someone watching her.
Lily groaned and rolled over. Potter would have something to say about that too. He 'loved' her. She just couldn't take this any more. This term she would do something about it, even if it meant sinking to James' level. She was a person who was depended on now, by Dumbledore himself! She fell asleep.
James Potter lay on his bed in the 7th year Gryffindor Boys' Dorm, listening to the scufflings and goodnights of his friends outside the curtains.
It had been a good first day, he thought. Not much had happened on the train, so they had had a chance to plan their next prank, although he had had to go to a Prefect meeting. This wasn't only a bad thing though; he had got to flirt with Lily Evans, much to her annoyance, and his amusement.
He really liked Evans. Not only was she beautiful, with her long red hair, emerald eyes and pale skin, but she was sophisticated, funny, clever, and very hard to impress. Therefore, he wanted to impress her all the more. It would mean he'd done a good job of it.
They had a few things in common; they both liked muggle classics, and they laughed at the same sort of jokes. He cringed as he thought of the times that he had tried to amuse her in the past, only to receive a cold look, and a mutter to her friends of 'immature'.
Then there had been the feast, of course. Davies had nearly spilt her drink down her front because of something Moony said. Then Hawling had slapped Padfoot. And not too soon!
And then later, when the feast had ended and he'd wandered out with Evans, Padfoot, Davies, Hawling and Moony, and who should he see but Wormtail and Gibson, snogging, right at the foot of the stairs? It was unfair. Moony could make a girl shake with one sentence; Padfoot could do the same thing and get a girl to slap him, and Wormtail had a girlfriend already!
And he could charm a girl, have a conversation with her, tell her jokes, and all she'd do is smile and walk with him. It wasn't even like she had a boyfriend!
And then he'd had to go and ruin it. He couldn't even remember what he'd done now – tell a rude joke or hex Snivellus or stop Gibson and Wormtail snogging, or perhaps all three, but she'd been annoyed, and the atmosphere had been ruined. Perhaps he should grow up a little this year? He'd always said he'd be a kid till he left school, but then there was Evans. He loved her, and he wasn't going to let her go because he was an idiot. He fell asleep, the new resolution firm in his mind.
Sirius Black said goodnight to his friends, opened the curtains to his four-poster, and took a running jump onto the bed. He closed the curtains with a flick of his wand and bounced slightly. This had become a custom on the first day of a new year at Hogwarts. Somewhere in his mind he was sad to think that this would be the last time it ever happened, but mostly he was just enjoying bouncing on the bed.
Hawling was gorgeous. She was tall, but not as tall as him, had pale skin, blood red lips, and long black hair. In truth, she reminded him of Snow White, which had been his favourite story when he was little – Snow White had been a witch, a Black, actually, and her muggleborn stepmother had been so jealous of her beauty andpureblood ancestrythat she had conspired to kill her.
But he would always remember the beginning, where Snow White's real mother cut her finger while sewing, and a drop of blood fell onto the snow on the window ledge, and she had said, 'Oh, that I might have a child with lips as red as the blood, skin as white as the snow, and hair as black as the ebony forests.'
And Caroline Hawling looked exactly like that, and moreover, she was funny as well as beautiful. Sirius really wanted to go out with her. Not only would that give him an excuse to kiss her, but also to talk to her for ages.
'Deep thinking, Padfoot,' he said to himself. 'Are you sure you're alright? I think you need a little rest.' So saying, he fell asleep.
Remus Lupin wasn't sure what to do. He had an important decision on his hands, and the choice he made would affect not only himself, but the others around him.
Should he finish his chapter today, when he so urgently wanted to know what happened, but this would involve staying up, and he would be moody (as well as Moony, he thought, and then groaned at his own bad joke) the next day, or he could go to sleep; his eyelids were drooping even as he tried to read.
He decided to sleep. He took his bookmark from the bedside table, and crawled to the end of the bed, where his bag lay on his trunk, and placed the book into the bag, so as to not forget it the next day. He crawled back and closed his eyes, thinking about the day to wind down, as he always did. The train journey had been fine; a Prefect meeting, a prank planned, chocolate eaten.
Then there was the feast. That hadn't been so great. He and Sarah Davies had been having a lovely conversation about magical creatures – one of his better subjects, and an area in which she was obviously very knowledgeable as well.
They had been talking into pudding about this and that, until she had brought up Veela. Hawling and Padfoot, sitting next to them, had eagerly joined in the conversation, with much enthusiasm and opinions to share about Veela.
They had had an interesting discussion about Veela, which had led onto beauty, and Sarah had said something about how ugly she was. He had then replied with a stupid remark, something he should never have said, but his mouth ran away with him, forgetting to contact the brain about the journey. He had said 'Sarah, you're more beautiful than anyone else.' And that was when his brain caught up with him. He had started blushing madly, and she had nearly spilled her juice down her front. Fortunately this, combined with Hawling slapping Padfoot, had meant that no-one noticed his blush.
Trying to think about the rest of the day and failing, and finally settling on his book to think about, Remus Lupin fell asleep.
Peter Pettigrew finished brushing his teeth and climbed into bed. Not much had happened that day, really. It was nice to see Suzie again, obviously, after only being able to owl each othermost of theholiday, and he'd said hello to her properly, like a gentleman, and talked to her during the feast, and then after the feast he'd said hello to her as her boyfriend, and that had been nice too.
But most of all, he was tired, and he needed to sleep, as he had NEWT classes the next day. It had been a coincidence, really, a weird one, but a coincidence that they were all doing the same classes.
Prongs, Padfoot, Davies and Hawling wanted to be Aurors, Moony wanted to work in the Department of Mysteries, and was taking a lot of classes to be sure that he would be able to get in, what with his condition and everything, Evans wanted to be a Charms professor, but also wanted an NEWT in all the basic subjects, and Suzie and he had taken the same classes to be companionable. Suzie wanted to become a Healer, and he himself thought that he'd be a lot more interesting than Binns at History of Magic, if he ever got the courage.
Peter started thinking about what his classes would be like if he ever got to teach them, and what things he would demonstrate, and if he would lecture, like Binns. With these cosy and comforting thoughts filling his mind, he went to sleep.
I hope you liked this chapter! It is the third reincarnation, and I really enjoyed adapting it, lengthening it, and bringing it up to the standard of the end of the fic (currently chapter 13) so that the tone didn't change so much, but that's not the point. The point is that I enjoyed writing it, and I hope that you enjoyed reading it. I know that not much happened in it, plot-wise, but trust me; it's not always like that. Persevere, and it just might get interesting.
PLEASE review! If not about this, then about tissues.
Larka :)