Second Year

Second Year

I breathed in deep to take in the air around me.

"Ah," I sighed. "I am beginning to feel the magic flow between my veins again." I twirled around in the same spot, extending my arms in the air towards the sky.

"You are so dramatic, Be," Lily said. "But it sure feels good to be back."

"Yep. I kind of missed this place," Alice said, staring at the castle fondly.

"Come on, girls," I said. I linked arms with Lily and Alice and we proceeded to walk into the Entrance Hall, laughing and giggling along the way.

As soon as we entered the Great Hall, friends from other houses started greeting us. More than once we stopped to chat with people such as Amelia Bones, Amos Diggory, and Emmeline Vance.

"Quite the social butterflies, our girls have become," Fabian commented as we finally sat at the Gryffindor table.

"Excuse us for being social," Lily said, smiling all the same.

"Girls, we'd like you to meet Kingsley and Caradoc," Gideon said, pointing to the two guys sitting next to him. I immediately recognized them as the beaters for the Gryffindor team.

"Hey," Both groups said at the same time.

"The infamous Beatriz, Alice, and Lily," Kingsley said, in a deep slow voice. "We've heard quite a lot about you from the Marauders."

"The Marauders?" Lily asked curiously.

"James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter," Caradoc answered. "We've christened their little group The Marauders since they like to cause so much mayhem."

"Nice," I said, smiling. Lily, on the other hand, frowned.

"Don't mind her. Her and James don't mix," Alice said. "Oh, look, here comes Frank."

"Hey, guys," Frank said, sliding into a seat next to Alice and smiling broadly.

"Hey, Frank, how was your summer?" Gideon asked.

Before Frank could answer, however, Professor McGonagall walked in with all the first years. They were so small, and each of them looked absolutely terrified.

None of us had ever appreciated just how boring the Sorting Ceremony was. It just went on and on, and it seemed that the long list would never end. By the time the last kid became a Ravenclaw, it was possible to hear all our stomachs grumbling hungrily.

Dumbledore stood up, his blue eyes twinkling and his arms extended wide. "Welcome back everyone to another year at Hogwarts. I know you are all anxious to dig into our delicious feast so I will not deprive you of it any longer. Dig in!"

"Hear, hear!" The Gryffindors shouted in unison.

The Hall laughed appreciatively.

"Finally!" Lily exclaimed, digging into the vegetables.

"Nice, Lils. I love your manners," Alice said.

"What? I'm hungry!" she said defensively.

I rolled my eyes at my best friend. "I can't wait until the Quidditch season starts again!" I said excitedly.

"Yeah. It's going to be great!" Kingsley agreed. "Two of our Chasers and our Keeper left last year, but James and Remus are going to try out, so we've got it covered."

Lily choked on her food. "James... Chaser?"

"He's amazing, Lils," Alice said. "Just wait till you see him fly in a Quidditch game."

"Great. His ego is just going to get bigger," Lily muttered.

"What about the Keeper? Any idea who you might pick?" Frank asked.

"Black," Caradoc said promptly.

"As in Sirius Black?" I asked.

"The one and only. He is awesome as well," Fabian said.

"How is it that we can always manage to bring those four into any conversation that we have?" Lily asked irritatingly.

"Well, because they're good at everything they do. Just like you're good at everything you do," Gideon said.

"Whatever."

The rest of the night passed in a bunch of jokes, laughter, giggles, and speeches. By the end, Alice, Lily, and I were very grateful to get into our familiar warm beds for a comfortable night's sleep.

"JAMES POTTER!" shouted Lily across the Charms classroom. "STOP IT THIS INSTANT!"

"Stop doing what, Lily flower?" James asked innocently.

"You know perfectly well what you're doing, you git!"

James had spent the last half hour charming paper balls to fly around Lily's head.

"Miss Evans, is something wrong?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"As a matter of fact, Professor, something is wrong! Potter won't stop charming paper balls to fly around my head!"

"Now, James, kindly start acting your age. I'd hate to have to give you a detention on your first day of term."

"I'm sorry, Professor. I just wanted to practice my Levitation Charm."

"Ah. Okay then."

Lily turned around and glared at James, who smiled sweetly and blew her a kiss.

"James is going to get it one day," Sirius whispered at me.

"Tell me about it. I can almost see the day when they get married," I said.

"Them? I doubt it." Sirius said.

"Who could you see getting married?"

"Hmm... Frank and Alice."

"Are you serious?!?!" I said, laughing.

"Definitely. I can sense these things."

"We're 12 years old. You can't sense a thing. The chances of Alice and Frank getting married are like... I don't know... you and I getting married. Slim to none."

"You never know. It could be our destiny."

"Sirius Black, once again, you're 12 years old, in Charms class, talking about destiny," I said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. You'll see what I'm talking about one day. If you believe in destiny that is."

"Well, I stick by Lily and James."

"Want to bet on it?"

"Ten Galleons on their wedding day," I said.

"Bet on what?" Alice asked, sliding across the table.

"Nothing," Sirius and I said together, smirking.

"Well, then come on, Be. It's time for lunch," Alice said, taking my arm.

I allowed myself to be driven away, but not before I gave Sirius one last glance. His trademark smirk appeared across his face and he winked knowingly. I couldn't help but smile.

For the rest of the week, James continued to hex paper balls to fly around Lily's and the Slytherin's heads. By Friday, half the school population wanted to curse him senseless, but only Lily had the guts to cast him a well-deserved Leg Locker Curse.

"Lily, this is not fair!" James moaned. "I have Quidditch trials tonight!"

"Should've thought about that before turning my life into a living nightmare!" Lily said, giving him a look of deepest loathing before stalking off to the library.

"Be, please!" James pleaded. I couldn't help myself. He looked as if he was about to cry.

"If Lily finds out, I kill you," I warned, before muttering the counter curse.

"Oh, my God, thank you!" he said, giving me a hug. "Come! You should see our tryouts."

"Oh, James, I would, but I want to have a nice surprise for the first Quidditch game of the season. So knock them dead for me, okay?"

"Okay, deal."

"My best to Sirius and Remus!" I called after him.

Two and a half hours later, I was finishing my Charms essay with Lily and Alice. All of a sudden, an entourage of people bursting through the portrait hole disturbed the quiet of the common room.

"Oh, my God, Be!" Fabian said, rushing to us. "They were bloody brilliant! James and Remus made every single goal! It was like 30 between the both of them!"

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah! It was wicked!" Gideon exclaimed.

I looked at the girls. Alice smiled broadly and Lily looked sullen.

"We're never going to hear the end of this."

"And Sirius!" Gideon continued. "He blocked every single one

of Minnie's best shots! Minnie is the current Gryffindor Chaser by the way."

The three boys rushed towards us. In a matter of seconds I was tangled in a many-armed hug.

"Congratulations, guys!" I said, barely able to breathe.

"Thanks, Be!"

As everything settled down, I turned to Lily and smiled. "Aww come on, Lils. You can't be mad at them forever."

"Watch me," she muttered, throwing them one final look of disgust before returning to finish to her essay.

*****

Midway through October, Alice joined us at breakfast looking very dejected. Before I could ask, she said, "Did you hear what came out in the Prophet?"

"No, I haven't seen the newspaper," Lily answered.

I didn't even bother answering, as everyone knew that I didn't read the paper.

"There have been a number of disappearances. The Ministry has been trying to find a link between these seemingly random people. There was only one: they were all Muggle-born. Everyone is thinking the same thing but no one says it: You-Know-Who."

Lily and I both gasped in unison.

"That's horrible!" Lily exclaimed.

I could barely trust myself to speak. I was just stunned. It seemed so impossible that anyone could possibly agree with that guy.

"But, Alice, I thought you said that no one could possibly join him because most wizards are half-bloods or less," Lily whispered.

"It's true. At the time, no one thought that anyone would join him. But there are some pureblood families that are full of it. And some people want to be with him because they want power."

As I looked around me, everyone seemed to be whispering in little groups about the disappearances. The expressions on people's faces were scared and worried. There was only one group of people that seemed excited about the situation: the Slytherins.

"Those assholes," I said spitefully. "They really are evil."

"Now's when you noticed?" Sirius said, popping out of nowhere with the rest of the Marauders.

"No, I always knew. I just didn't care to admit it for Lily's sake," I said.

"You can't say that, Be," Lily said reasonably. "They obviously aren't behind any of these disappearances. You don't know what side they're on."

"Have you seen the looks on all their faces, Lily?" Sirius said, motioning to the Slytherin table. "I can bet that their parents probably made those people disappear. Trust me, the Slytherins aren't your common bully. I live with people that were Slytherins. I see the injustice and the way these people think. They are evil, Lily. They will stop at nothing until they get what they want."

Lily, Alice, and I stared at him. No one had ever seen Sirius so... serious. Nevertheless it was admiring to see him talk with such determination and passion. Even Lily didn't throw him her usual death glare.

"I think we should go to class," Lily said quietly.

She stood up and walked past Sirius without another glance.

I gave the Marauder a small smile before I ran after her. She was halfway down the corridor by the time I caught up with her.

"This is so awful," Lily whimpered.

"Don't worry, Lily. Look, the Ministry is trying to find these people as fast as possible. They can't hide forever. Once they catch these people it will all be over. Just watch."

"You think so?" Lily asked hopefully.

"I know so."

The truth was that I was in fact just as scared as Lily was. But she was my best friend, and she needed me to be strong in her time of need.

That afternoon, I was sitting under the beech tree by the lake reading a copy of Quidditch Through The Ages. Lily and Alice were upstairs practicing for Charms, and I was quite content to be able to spend some time alone.

I stared off into the blood red sunset, somehow feeling this knot in the pit of my stomach giving me a warning.

"Are you alright?" A voice asked from behind me.

I turned around to see Sirius leaning against the tree casually, looking concerned.

"I'm... fine," I ended lamely.

"Sorry about what I said this morning," he said, sitting down

next to me. "I didn't realize how harsh I was sounding."

"No, don't worry about it. It's the truth."

"It is. I just didn't want you and Lily to be walking around,

completely ignorant of it all. Not just you, everyone. The only reason I'm so informed is because of my family."

I stared at him curiously. "Your family agrees with all this stuff?"

"Of course they do. The Blacks are an ancient pureblood wizarding family. My parents are convinced that to be Black makes you practically royal. They hate me for being in Gryffindor. Thousands of Black generations have been in Slytherin, and I'm the first to be put in Gryffindor. As soon as they heard, they as good as disowned me."

"Sirius, that's terrible."

Sirius shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. "The only two people I care about in my family are my cousin Andromeda and my brother Regulus."

"I didn't know you had a brother! He's younger I suppose."

"How'd you know?"

"You sounded protective of him when you said his name."

Sirius stared at the sunset, smiling. "Yes. I'd hate for my parents to brainwash him. We've been close all our lives. He really looks up to me. I hope I can manage to change his mind about my parents' ideas. He's coming next year. He'll be in Gryffindor hopefully."

"If he's anything like you, I'm sure he will be." I paused, not knowing whether I should go on or not. "I'm sorry about your family, Sirius."

"Don't be," Sirius said, his eyes becoming dark as he spoke. "As far as I'm concerned, those people are not my family. The only family I have are James, Remus, and Peter. I never wanted to be a Black."

I stared at the ground, not quite sure of what to say next. After a couple of minutes of silence, Sirius stood up. "Well, I'd better go. I have to meet the guys somewhere. If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me. I know you have Lily but... I know you like to be strong for her. You can't bottle your emotions up."

I stared at him, amazed, and before I could even answer, he turned and walked away.

I couldn't help but smile as I turned back to look at the disappearing sunset. Sirius Black was quite a character.

*****

The first Quidditch match of the season was highly anticipated. Everyone was longing to see the new Gryffindor Chasers and Keeper who were rumored to be the best Quidditch players Hogwarts had seen in awhile.

On the morning before the match, the air was so thick in the Great Hall, it could be cut with a knife. One side of the Hall was dressed in red and gold, while the opposite end was covered in green and silver.

Alice, Lily, Frank, Gideon, Fabian, and I were sitting next to the Gryffindor Quidditch team. James was shaking nervously, barely able to eat without dropping his food from the fork. Remus was a delicate shade of green and he was not even bothering to eat. Sirius, however, was quite at his ease, merely enjoying the attention he was receiving from all the Gryffindors. How he managed to keep his cool even in the most stressful situations was beyond me.

"Remus, you need to eat," I said, buttering some toast for him. "You need the energy."

"Thanks, Be," He said, smiling as he took a bite out of the bread.

"You're going to be awesome! I saw you fly at practice yesterday. I think you're even better than James," I whispered in his ear. The delicate shade of green turned into a brilliant red.

"Thanks," he whispered. After that he became slightly more cheerful.

"Sirius, aren't you the least bit nervous about the match?" James asked his best friend.

"I'm more excited than worried. The Slytherins are a bunch of thick dunderheads. It's going to take more than Malfoy to stop me from blocking their shots," Sirius said, his eyes glinting mischievously.

"Come on, guys," Derek, captain of the team, called down the table. "Let's go change."

The Gryffindor team made their way out of the hall to tumultuous applause.

Soon after they had left, the rest of the Gryffindor second years also made their way to the pitch.

The atmosphere was intense as each side of the field cheered on their own team. As soon as James and Remus were on their brooms, it was evident that all their worries disappeared. They flew across the fields, looking as light as the wind. Sirius, meanwhile, was waving and throwing kisses to everyone from the goalpost.

"They are so arrogant," Lily shouted, trying to make herself heard above the noise.

"Oh, cheer up, Lils. It's Quidditch! You're supposed to be arrogant on the pitch," Alice shouted back.

"Yeah sure."

"And the Gryffindor team is looking good on this fine day," Bagman could be heard above the cheers. "Expectations are very high for the team this year..." The rest of his commentaries were drowned by hisses from the Slytherin end.

"The line up this year is Minnie Randolph, Remus Lupin, and James Potter as Chasers, Caradoc Dearborn and Kingsley Shacklebolt as Beaters, Sirius Black as Keeper..." Bagman was drowned out by shrieks from girls. I rolled my eyes as Sirius bowed from his posts. "And... Derek Carmichael as Seeker!"

The Gryffindors cheered for their team while the Slytherins tried to make their hisses heard over the applause.

The Chasers lined themselves up in front of each other with Madam Hooch and the Quaffle between them. Madam Hooch blew the whistle and threw the Quaffle in the air to be caught by James immediately.

"And James Potter catches the Quaffle and passes it on to Remus Lupin, who soars toward the goal posts, and he shoots...and he SCORES! Gryffindor is in the lead 10-0!"

Remus soared away from the goalposts with a triumphant look on his face. The Slytherins were looking murderous. Their Chaser raced with the Quaffle to the goalposts and...

"Shacklebolt blocks the Chaser with a Bludger. That has got to hurt. Randolph takes possession of the Quaffle. She passes to Lupin who passes to Potter who passes back to Randolph and it's Randolph, Potter, Lupin, Potter, Lupin, oh watch out for the Bludger, Potter, Randolph and SHE SCORES! 20-0 Gryffindor!"

We all cheered hysterically as Minnie flew away, high-fiving James along the way.

The Slytherins took possession of the Quaffle. Malfoy made his way towards Sirius and he shot the Quaffle. Sirius, however, was too quick for him, so he was able to block the shot and get the Quaffle to James.

Soon enough, James and Remus managed to score 50 points apiece, widening the lead to 120-10. The Slytherins started relying on their dirty tactics to try to salvage the game. They would accidentally knock into the players, and the Beater even hit Minnie across the head with a bat, claiming that he thought she was a Bludger.

"Lupin passes the Quaffle to Potter...The Seekers fly after the Snitch, each trying in vain to knock the other off course! And... YES! Derek has caught the Snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

We all cheered and rushed down to the field to congratulate our friends.

"You guys were brilliant!" I said, as all three boys hugged me at once.

"Thanks, Be."

"Of course. Since when have the Marauders been bad at anything?" Fabian said admiringly. "But nice Quidditch game."

"Thanks, Fab," James said. Then he turned around and shouted, "PARTY IN THE COMMON ROOM!"

"Come on, guys," Sirius said. "Let's go get some food."

*****

With the newfound success of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, the Marauders became more popular then ever. People would gather around in the common room, in the halls, in classes, and just about anywhere to hear some of their stories. The only person that didn't seem to be too happy about them (apart from the Slytherins) was Lily.

"I can't believe them!" Lily whispered furiously in the library. "They prance around the school as if they own the place. All they do is play pranks and hex people, and they seem to get away with it. They may lose a million house points in the process, but no one cares because it was precious Potter and his faithful sidekicks, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew."

I stared intently at my book. I truly believed my voice would soon vanish from lack of use. Lily had been like this for days. It was her obsession. And I couldn't bring myself to agree with what she said, because in truth I liked the Marauders. I thought that they were extremely funny, very loyal, and the best friends anyone could ask for. But I knew better than to say that to Lily.

"Did you see them today? They hexed a Slytherin fourth year to oblivion just because the kid crossed their path in the hall. That's bloody ridiculous!" Lily continued whispering.

Madam Pince gave us a severe look as she walked past us.

"What do you care Lily? What's it to you anyways?" I asked. The words were out of my mouth before I could even consider what I was about to say.

"What's it to me?" Lily asked, glaring at me. "It's wrong!"

"The Slytherins are just as bad. This fifth year hexed a first year last week for not carrying his books to class. What the hell is that?"

"So just because they do it means that we have to sink to their level?"

"No, but we can't let them step all over everyone either," I said.

"You know, sometimes I think you're just like them."

"Like the Slytherins?" I asked disbelievingly.

"No. Like the Marauders. I expect if you weren't friends with me, you'd be part of their group."

I bit my lip, weighing my words carefully.

"I like them Lily. I think they're good people. They just like to have their fun, and their definition of fun is different from your definition of fun. But if the people that have known them the longest still say they're good people, then they are good people."

Lily shrugged and continued working on her essay. I sighed, quite sure that after this conversation my voice would surely vanish.

*****

"I'm afraid I have some terrible news." Professor Dumbledore's voice rang across the silent Hall on the first night back from Winter Break. Everyone already knew what the terrible news was, but Dumbledore announcing it made it irreversible and painfully true.

"One of our own has been taken from our mist. Emily Peterson, Ravenclaw sixth year was murdered along with the rest of her family by Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

A shudder ran through the Hall. I stared, dumbfounded, from Lily to Alice to Sirius to James to Remus to Gideon to Fabian to Frank and to Peter. All of them wore the same look of utter disbelief, fear, and in Sirius' case, anger.

"Emily was a great asset to our school, and I'm sure that all of us will miss her terribly. May I remind you that the times are getting darker? And in these dark times, we must all unite, regardless of our backgrounds or our house. Unless we stand together, we will all perish from within."

He sat back down on the staff table, all twinkle in his eyes gone.

I stared in disbelief around me. I felt like crying for some reason. The grief just clawed at the pit of my stomach. I felt like I was going to throw up my food. I didn't know Emily. But I knew she was a Muggle-born. I knew she was 16 years old, with her whole life ahead of her. A life that would never be lived.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked cautiously, as the group was making its way to Gryffindor tower. "You look a little pale."

"I'm... in shock," I said, staring at the ground. "Everything is different once someone so close is taken. She was a Muggle-born, Remus. That could have just as easily been Lily... or me!"

Remus stopped walking and pulled me into a hug. We stood there for a while, neither one of us speaking. Words were not necessary at this point.

"I wish I could tell you this will all go away," Remus whispered into my hair. "I wish I could tell you that we are all going to wake up from this horrible dream."

"I want to fight against Voldemort when I get out of here. This is my world, and I'm not going to let it fall apart without putting up a fight."

*****

"Did you see that game? It was bloody brilliant!" James exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Yes, James, we were all there. We saw the game," Fabian said, clearly mocking him.

"That pass Remus made to Minnie was beautiful!" Alice commented.

Everyone murmured their agreement.

The Gryffindors had just won the Quidditch Cup. The entire school agreed that it was the best Quidditch game in at least 20 years. The Chasers scored a grand total of 300 points. Remus was on fire that day. He seemed to do no wrong. He made brilliant passes, incredible goals, and the Bludgers just seemed to miss him. He had been the hero of the game. Of course now the Slytherins were after his blood, but then again when were they not?

"Hey, Be! You want anything to eat?" Sirius called from the table with all the food.

"No thanks. I'm pretty much stuffed," I called back.

I settled into the comfort of the couch. "Ugh. I can't believe we have exams tomorrow."

"Speaking of exams, where's Evans?" James asked, looking around the room hopefully.

"Let's take a wild guess," Alice said sarcastically.

"Studying," I said. "She's been in a right state these past few months. She's been studying, complaining about you people, and worrying about the war."

"She needs to have a bit of fun," Sirius said, joining the group.

"You know how Lily is. She's so stubborn. We try to make her think reasonably, but it's impossible. She's brilliant, but she has this temper that someone needs to control," Alice said.

"She'll come around," I said confidently.

For two long weeks after that night, we were being drilled as we did our end of year exams. The exams I thought to be quite easy, although not everyone was sharing my sentiment. Poor Peter would come out of every exam shaking terribly in a state of utter distress. I even offered to help him study, which he accepted graciously. In the end, it came as a great relief to everyone involved that the summer holidays were just around the corner.

"Bye, Lils. I'll miss you!" I said, giving Lily a hug. "Listen, try to relax a bit. You seem to be awfully stressed. There's no use crying over spilled milk. Whatever happens, happens. There's no use stressing about the inevitable, okay?"

"You're right. I'm sorry about being so annoying. Take care of yourself, okay?" she said. Her green eyes stared into mine worriedly.

"I'd hate to lose my best friend," she added.

I smiled broadly and gave her another hug. "I love you, Lils. See you in September."