Crossroads

Chapter 4: And So It Begins :Absie:

Absie sat doodling absentmindedly in the back of the History of Magic classroom. At the front of the room Professor Binns - a man so old Sirius and James swore he would wake up dead and not even realize it happened- stood droning on about the goblin wars. The students had only been back in class for a week, and Absie already found herself looking forward to the weekend - especially when she had to sit through classes like this. She found herself thanking Merlin it was Friday, and looking forward to being able to sleep in the next day. It didn't help that her best friends had been acting weird all week. Lily had gotten better after her odd outburst on Monday, but Quinn seemed to get more and more nervous and twitchy each day. It was at the point now that whenever Lily or Absie would break her from her zombie-like state, she would scream and drop whatever she was holding at the time. Already she had broken three cups during dinner, and Lily and Absie were beginning to get worried.

Absie glanced over at Quinn now. She was just a couple seats over from herself, but she sat with her head resting in her hand staring at the wall, probably without taking in a word of the classes lecture. Absie stared at her, trying to figure out what the problem was, when a small piece of folded parchment landed neatly in the middle of her desk. Absie looked around, trying to see who the note had come from to see Remus and Oliver grinning at her from a few rows ahead of her. She grinned back and folded open the paper to read:

Abs,

Remus and I have decided that it's about time we start

Getting together for study dates again. I propose we meet in the

Library at six tonight and maybe then we can figure out

What this lesson was actually on.

-Oliver

Absie looked up at the boys and nodded. Not that she was really in the mood to be studying already, but she loved to hang out with the boys. They were always a lot of fun to be with, especially when they were together. If the two of them weren't in separate houses, Absie swore they would be as close as James and Sirius.

The bell rang, pulling everyone out of his or her stupor. Even Professor Binns looked up confused, and checked his watch before calling out to the already-leaving class, "Remember to read chapter 7 of your textbooks this weekend in preparation for class on Monday!"

"Not bloody likely…" James grumbled, catching up with the group of Gryffindors leaving the classroom.

"James you're head boy! You should be setting a better example! Besides, how are you going to understand what's going on in class if you don't read about it first?" Lily scolded him as they all walked together to the great hall for dinner.

"You know as well as I do that he's going to review the chapter first thing on Monday anyways." James retorted, "and Dumbledore made me head boy without me ever reading anything for History of Magic. He knew what he was getting himself into."

"Maybe he made you Head Boy because he thought that it might give you some sort of sense of responsibility! Obviously he was wrong." Lily huffed at him and sat down between Quinn and Absie so that she wouldn't have to talk to him anymore.

James frowned, but sat on the other side of Quinn without saying anything back. Oliver said goodbye to Remus and made his way over to his own place as the Hufflepuff table. Sirius sat on the other side of the table with Remus. All six of them started into their food before any of them realized that something was missing.

"Where's Wormtail?" Sirius asked suddenly, looking up from the table, and glancing back and forth. Everyone dropped their forks and looked up as well.

"I have no idea…" James said slowly, trying to think back to when Peter might have slipped away, and coming up with nothing, "Did he leave History of Magic with us?"

"Was he even in History of Magic?" Remus asked suddenly, looking quizzingly at everyone.

"I don't know… Quinn did you see him?" Lily asked, looking at her.

"I- what?" Quinn asked, starting suddenly and dropping her cup which fell on the floor and broke.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" Absie cried exasperated, as Lily bent down to repair the cup, "Quinn what is wrong with you lately?"

Quinn paled, "I don't know what you're talking about." She stammered.

"Don't lie to us, Quinn, we can see right trough you." Absie warned. She turned around fully on the bench to stare at her friend. "Tell us what's going on."

Quinn's eyes flicked to the Slytherin table for only half a second, but Absie still caught in and glanced over in earnest to where she was staring. It just so happened that at that moment Scott was watching them as well. He raised his hand in a wave as Absie looked over at them and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Quinn, why is he waving at us?"

"Wait, who's waving?" James asked turning around to look at the Slytherin table as well.

"James, stop…!" Quinn moaned but it was too late as Scott saluted James as well.

"Quinn, why is Scott Walker waving at us?"

"Scott Walker… why do I know that name?" Lily mused looking at them.

"Probably because he's the biggest player in the school, right Quinn?" James asked, glaring down at Quinn. Quinn opened and closed her mouth, but no words came out.

"You wouldn't be thinking of hanging out with him at all would you Quinn?" James persisted, straightening up in his seat to loom over her. Again, Quinn opened her mouth to retaliate but couldn't come up with anything to say.

"Quinn?" Lily looked at her friend in honest worry and prayed her to explain with her eyes.

Quinn sighed and looked around at them all who sat staring at her. "He asked me out in potions the other day… he wouldn't take no for an answer." She explained, although it wasn't entirely true.

Absie gaped at her and James threw his hands in the air, "Quinn, you're better then him! You're better then any Slytherin!"

"You don't know what you're talking about, James. You don't even know him!" Quinn responded, finally able to stand up for herself.

"You don't know him either, Quinn! He's bad news, I'm sure of it."

"You can't control my life, James!" Quinn shouted at him, raising the attention of the people sitting around her. Lily grabbed her sleeve to keep her from standing up, but Quinn ripped her arm out of it and stumbled away from the table. Absie and Lily jumped up to join her as she ran out of the Great Hall, leaving the three boys sitting alone with their dinner and shocked expressions on their faces.

Absie and Lily caught up to Quinn just outside the large doors that lead to the great hall.

"Quinn, what's going on?" Lily asked, grabbing her sleeve again. Quinn whipped around and looked at them.

"It's just… it's my life, and he always tries to control it! He doesn't know anything! I just…. He just…" words failed her, and she looked at her two best friends with pleading eyes.

"Quinn, he's got a point. You've heard the same things I have about him. Why would you want to date him?" Lily looked at her defiantly, and Quinn cowered before her.

"Lily, you wouldn't understand…" she mumbled, looking at the floor.

"Oh, come on!" Absie said, exasperated, "we're your best friends. We'll understand."

Quinn looked up at the two of them, "No you wouldn't. You guys always have boys chasing after you…. I've never had a guy my age pay attention to me like that. He… he looks at me! He talks to me!"

"Quinn, I do not have boys chasing after me." Absie said, taking her friends arm, "and there are plenty of nice boys out there who will pay attention to you."

"Oh yeah? Like who?" Quinn looked challengingly at her.

"Well… I mean… there has to be someone… it's a large school…" Absie stammered, digging herself a hole.

Quinn groaned and turned to go but Lily stopped her, "Quinn, I understand how you feel." Quinn looked at her skeptically, "No! I do! I understand, but I promise you a good guy will come along soon. You don't need a slimeball like Scott to make you feel good about yourself."

Quinn looked at her for a minute, "but Lily… I really think I do." She bit her lip, "Lily, I don't want to be that person, but he really made me feel special! He waited after class specifically for me! Just to talk to me! No guy has ever made me feel that way before. Please guys," she said, looking at her two friends, "just let me have this."

Absie and Lily looked at each other with concern. Both were thinking the same thing: Scott was bad news. Everyone knew that. But Quinn seemed to actually like him, and they didn't want to tell her that she couldn't do what she wanted.

"Don't judge me for this." Quinn whispered to them, "but I'm 17, and no guy has even ever looked at me before. Is it so wrong for me to want that?"

Lily shook her head, "No there's nothing wrong with that. I just… Well… I guess it's your life. We just don't want to see you hurt."

"We only care about you." Absie added in.

"I can take care of myself." Quinn gave them a small smile. "Thank you for understanding."

Absie gave Quinn a big hug, "Quinn, we love you. Let us know if he's being a toerag to you. We'll send the boys to beat him up."

Quinn laughed a little, "Don't tell James, he might actually kill him."

"Might serve him right." Lily smiled, and joined in the hug as well. The girls pulled apart and looked at each other with smiles.

Just at that moment, Remus poked his head around the doors leading to the Great Hall, "Is it safe for me to come out, yet?"

Quinn laughed, "Yes, come on out, Remus."

Remus grinned at them and stepped all the way out into the hall, "I hate to break this up, but Absie, we're supposed to be meeting Oliver in about two minutes so…"

Absie looked down at her watch and smacked herself in the head, "I totally forgot!" She glanced up, as if calculating something, and then looked wide-eyed at Quinn, "You're sure you're alright, then?"

Quinn smiled at her, "As good as ever."

"Perfect. Ok then Remus, we can still get there on time." Without warning Absie grabbed Remus' hand and started bolting down the hallways, away from her friends and towards the library. Remus stumbled the first few steps but quickly he began to overtake her with his long legs, forcing Absie to push herself harder just to keep up. It eventually turned into a race, both of the two still managed to laugh at each other in between gasps of breath and they skidded around corners and tripped down the slick floors of the castle. Thankfully, the library wasn't too far from the doors to the Great Hall as the two of them might have passed out from exhaustion if then ran any farther then they had just to make it there. They stopped just outside of the library, panting, neither of them able to catch their breath and argue over whom had made it first.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here." Suddenly Oliver loomed over them. Remus and Absie looked up into his twinkling blue eyes,an evil smile on his face, "two minutes late I see. I think that means 2 points a piece for me."

Absie and Remus groaned with what little breath they had left. It had become a game between the three of them to be on time to their study sessions. Every minute that a person was late was a point to any person that was there on time. This meant that Oliver started the year four points ahead of both Absie and Remus, which was hard to catch up on.

After waiting another minute so that Absie and Remus could actually walk again, the three of them went and found seats at a table near the back of the library. They pulled out their History of Magic textbooks and then looked around at each other.

"So…" Absie said, looking down at her page and then up at the two boys in front of her, "I haven't got an idea what we were supposed to have learned today."

"Me neither. Remus?" Oliver and Absie looked at him expectantly, and as always, he didn't disappoint.

"You know, it's really not that hard to just pay attention in class…" Remus muttered, grinning at them. This was the way these study sessions usually went. Though Oliver and Absie both were above average students Remus was very, very above average, and always paid attention in class. Most of the study sessions ended up with Remus just re-teaching lessons to them. Remus didn't mind, and Oliver and Absie ended up with much better grades because of it.

The three friends sat together laughing and studying for hours before Madame Bagg informed them that the library was closing, and ushered them out. The three of them walked Oliver to the Hufflepuff common room down by the kitchens. They each gave him a hug goodbye in parting, and then turned to make their way back to the Gryffindor common room. They talked a bit as they headed up the large staircases that lead to their beds, when a sudden scuttling noise behind them made them stop dead in their tracks.

"Who's there?" Remus called, spinning around and staring into the dark space behind them.

"Lumos." Absie whispered, pointing her wand towards the sound. Light erupted out of the end of her wand, illuminating the dark corridor behind them. Peter stood frozen in fear as the light hit him, and Absie and Remus came into full view.

"Wormtail?" Remus looked at him puzzled, "What are you doing out so late?"

"I.. ah… I had something to do…" Peter muttered, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Absie gave him a strange look, "Well why didn't you let us know you were there?"

"I didn't realize it was you." Peter said, "It's too dark, I thought maybe you were teachers."

Remus laughed, "It's only 11, Wormtail. We still have an hour before we have to be in the common rooms."

Peter gave an awkward laugh, looking embarrassed. Absie continued to stare at Peter in an odd way, but shook her head and started back up towards the common rooms anyway. Remus fallowed suit, and Peter jogged to catch up so that he could walk with them as well. Soon, the oddities of the situation vanished and by the time the three of them stepped into the large, red and gold room, they were laughing and chatting as old friends again. Fatigue suddenly hitting her, Absie bed goodnight to Remus and Peter there, making her way up to the girl's dormitories. Lily and Quinn were there already, sitting together talking quietly on their beds for Clarissa and Sydney had gone to bed hours before, and the girls knew the wrath of them if they didn't get their beauty sleep.

Absie slid into bed after changing out of her robes, and pulled the curtains around her. It didn't take her long at all to fall asleep, dreaming of sleeping in the next day.