A Marauder's Tale (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

The next week went by in such a flash that Fiona could hardly remember where she had been and what had happened.
Fiona and James found many very talented Quidditch players trying out for the team and eventually decided on Braylon Lowe as Keeper, Daphne Peterson and Ophelia Geralds as the newest Chasers, and Alek Fyodore (the newest transfer student from Durmstrang) and, much to Fiona's dismay, Cliff Tayson as the new Beaters.
Aside from Quidditch, schoolwork that the teachers began throwing out to the students began to increase in the mere course of the week. Professor McGonagall seemed more determined than ever to prepare the students for N.E.W.T.s coming up next year and even Professor Slughorn, who had always been very leniant with his students, was cracking down and assigned them an essay to write ("where to find bezours and what uses they had").
On top of all of this was the fact that she still had not gotten a date to the Opening Year Ball. She had been asked by quite a few boys, but she had denied every one of them with all intensive purposes not to find herself in any sort of relationship with them. Now, however, she was wishing more than ever, as she watched everyone else walking, perfectly matched, in the hallways together with their dates, that she had said yes to one of those boys.
It, indeed, seemed that Fiona was the only one left in the school that hadn't been hand in hand with someone in every corridor she walked in. Even Peter and James had someone to walk with when they weren't walking with the other Marauders.
Ever since Fiona convinced Peter to ask out Bertha Jorkins and convinced Lily to give James a chance, there had been no denying that there had been a definite change in all of their behavior. Even Lily, whom had always referred to James as being an ignorant toerag beforehand, came back to their dormitory quite happy every night that she spent down in the common room with him, just talking about topic after topic. Fiona even had to endure a few long discussion about a conversation that she just had downstairs with James.
"I just cannot believe he can be so deep," Lily would say at the end of them.
There were only two other people that seemed to be with Fiona in the unmatched population of the school. Remus and Sirius both didn't have dates for the ball either. Fiona worked relentlessly to find at least one girl that Remus would find attractive or interesting enough to want to take, but to no avail it seemed.
He would always say, "Her? She's a complete dunce," or, "She got about five T's on her O.W.L.s."
It only seemed that an even harder person to match was Sirius, not that Fiona tried on that. More girls had come up to Sirius than ever, asking him to be their partner for the ball. Every single time, he would casually decline and walk away with Fiona, Remus, Peter, and James, Fiona secretly beaming with joy on the inside.
She still hadn't quite gotten over the small feelings every time that she looked at Sirius, but kept convincing herself that they'd go away soon enough. She soon discovered that this was a lie, as they seemed to be growing steadily stronger with every stolen glance and accidental touch between the two. Fiona was still, however, refusing to admit to anyone, even Lily, that she could possibly be falling for Sirius Black.
Thankfully, Remus seemed to notice nothing out of the ordinary between Fiona and Sirius. Perhaps it was because he didn't think that his sister would date Sirius because they had known each other for so long, or because he didn't think that she would have lied to him when she told him that she had no feelings for Sirius. At the time, though, she had thought this the truth, and she would have given anything to feel that way again.
She had secretly decided that she would not pursue Sirius, no matter how strong her feelings got for him. Her decision seemed to be holding true for only a short time, though, until it was put to the test.
Fiona sat in the not-so-crowded common room with Sirius and Remus, all trying desperately to finish their Charms essays that were due the next morning. James had gone out for a midnight stroll with Lily and Peter had gone to bed early that night, exhausted from spending his day with Bertha. As Fiona was starting on her second sheet of parchment, Remus rolled up his fourteen inches of parchment and put it into his bag.
"I'm going to bed," he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder and standing up. Fiona muttered good night to him, her eyes not leaving the parchment, as he walked to the boys' staircase.
Sirius and Fiona finished their essays at about the same time, half an hour later. Neither of them feeling tired, they continued to sit in the common room and talk, watching as the common room slowly emptied. Soon, there was only Fiona, Sirius, and a few small second year girls oggling Sirius from across the room, making Fiona giggle.
"I think you've got some admirers," Fiona said, nodding her head toward the girls. Sirius groaned.
"I have too many of them," he said irratably. Fiona laughed.
"At least those are the harmless ones."
"Doesn't stop them from asking me to the ball every five minutes."
Fiona laughed and rolled her eyes.
"You wouldn't be laughing if it were you," Sirius added.
"You act like I haven't been being harrassed by Cliff for the past week," Fiona said, "I've been considering hexing him the next time that he comes near me."
Sirius finally broke into a smile that made Fiona's heart melt.
Fiona sighed heavily and said, "I just wish that I could find someone to go with that wasn't so -- so ignorant. It'd be a very nice change."
"Yeah, and I wish that I could find someone to go with that wasn't as annoying as the other girl, but where am I going to find a girl like that?" said Sirius. Then, his face changed as though someone had flicked on a lightbulb inside of his head. He turned to Fiona, grinning.
"Fiona, we should go together," he said suddenly. Fiona felt the color rush into her cheeks.
"You and I?"
"Well, that's usually what 'we' means." Fiona forced a laugh.
What was he playing at? He couldn't just ask her to the ball like that. Not when her stomach did flips every time she even looked his way. Not when he didn't know the feelings that she was longing to release for him. Not when he probably didn't, and would never, feel the same way as she did for him.
"I -- um -- Remus wouldn't --" Fiona started, but couldn't quite find the words to continue.
"If you don't want to that's fine," he said quickly, looking slightly put out, "I just thought that if you and I went with each other it'd be easier to tell the others that ask us no. Plus, at least we'd have fun together."
Fiona ran through the situation in her brain; If she went with Sirius then she wouldn't have to worry about Cliff constantly hinting about how they should go together anymore. Also, she wouldn't have to worry about not having a date. Although, if she did, it may cause a row between her and Remus.
It's only to get Cliff away from me, she told herself, It doesn't mean that we're going to date. I'll just have to tell Remus that.
Even though her conscious was shaming her, Fiona said to Sirius, as impartially as she could, "You're right. We should go together."
Sirius's grin widened. "Great!"
Silence fell upon the two, neither knowing exactly what to say to the other now. Thankfully, only moments later, Lily and James came in through the portrait hole. Fiona stood up, eager for the excuse to leave the room.
"Well, Lily and I should go to bed. G'night guys," Fiona said quickly, grabbing Lily's arm and pulling her up the stairs with Lily saying a rushed goodbye to James. When the two were safely in their dormitory, Fiona turned to Lily to casually (or as casually as she could) tell her everything, but saw that Lily wore a strange look of triumph on her face.
"I told you he liked you!" Lily said in a hushed whisper, careful not to wake up their sleeping roommates.
"What?" Fiona whispered back.
Lily smirked. "Don't play dumb. James and I heard him ask you to the ball."
Fiona covered her hands in her face. "James knows now?"
"Relax. He thinks that you and Sirius wouldn't be too bad of a couple together."
"We're not going to date, Lily. It's just something to keep people from badgering us."
Lily fought to suppress a giggle. If it was a bit lighter in the room, she would have seen that Fiona was glaring at her.
"Lily, it isn't funny. We are just going as friends. Neither of us want anything more than that."
Lily voiced what Fiona's thoughts were telling her.
"Liar. Come on, it's not like it's going to be the end of the world liking Sirius, so just admit it. It's not like you guys wouldn't be a good couple. You've been best friends for how long now?"
"We aren't ever going to --"
"Fiona, I know you and I know it when you have feelings for someone. Even if you don't want to admit it, you have some feelings for Sirius. I'm not asking you to admit them to me yet," she added as she saw Fiona open her mouth to debate, "All I'm saying is that, I'm glad that you two are going to the ball together, even if it is 'just as friends,' for now."
Fiona smiled, stayed up talking a bit more to Lily about what she and James had done that night, and went to bed. The next day during lessons she informed Remus about her date to the ball, and his reaction was far different from Lily's.
"What happened to you won't date any of my friends?" Remus said hotly, keeping his voice low as Professor Kettleburn walked past them in Care of Magical Creatures. Fiona had made sure to extract herself and Remus from their friends before telling him, to ensure that he didn't try to curse Sirius.
"It's not like that, Remus, honest."
She explained to him that they would only be attending as friends and that both only needed the other as a way to stop others from asking them. He didn't seem convinced, but, feeling that Remus had calmed down enough to rejoin the group, they both walked back over to where Sirius, James, and Peter sat on the grass. Remus didn't talk to any of them for the rest of the lesson.
The only person who seemed to have taken the news of Fiona's date harder than Remus, was Cliff Tayson. When she had told him after he'd asked her to the ball for the umpteenth time, he seemed to take it as a personal blow to his ego and stormed out of the common room, unmistakably fuming with rage. Fiona would have been more concerned that he would hurt someone, if she hadn't thought of Cliff's reaction as deeply amusing.
Sirius and Remus sat down next to her, Remus putting himself directly inbetween the two, just as she had started laughing at Cliff's expression.
"What's so funny?" asked Sirius.
"I've just told Cliff about the ball," she said with a sly smile, "You might not want to sleep in your room tonight, Sirius. He may just try to hurt you in your sleep."
Sirius joined in on the laughter. Remus looked very sour.
"Oh, come on, Rem. Admit it, it's funny," Fiona pleaded, giving him her sad puppy dog eyes.
"God, I hate you sometimes," Remus said, finally cracking a smile. Fiona grinned.
They all laughed, but the laughter was broken apart by the arrival of a short and rather thin girl with thick black hair, named Charlotte Charleston. Fiona only knew of her by the times that she had seen her around the school, but, because she was a year younger than Fiona and the Marauders, she had never gotten a chance to speak to her.
"Hello, Remus. Can I speak to you for a second?" Charlotte said, with a very sweet smile.
Remus, though looking thoroughly taken aback, got up and walked with her over to the other end of the common room. Fiona turned to Sirius, who was looking strangely pleased with himself.
"What do you reckon that's about?" Fiona whispered.
"Well, I have a pretty good idea," he said with a sly smile.
"What do you mean?"
"Let's just say that I decided to help you out with your little project." When Fiona still looked confused, he added, "I told Charlotte that Moony was a great guy and that if she wanted to have a fun time at the ball, she should ask him to go with her."
Fiona, before she knew what exactly had come over her, hugged him tightly and pecked his cheek.
"You are the best, you know that, right?" she squealed.
He stammered a few times before finally saying, "Th-thanks."
After Fiona released him, he seemed to regain a bit more of his composure and said, "That isn't going to really help with Moony trusting us to go to the ball together."
She glanced back worriedly at Remus and saw that he was thankfully still in conversation with Charlotte. She turned back to Sirius and leaned back against the couch.
"It's fine. He didn't notice."
"Good, I'd rather not be murdered by him," said Sirius, half-smiling.
Fiona laughed. Remus reapproached them and sat down again, a dazed and somewhat dreamy expression on his face. Fiona, never having seen him look like this before, tried hard to stifle giggles. Sirius bit his knuckle to stop himself laughing.
"So, what did she want?" Fiona asked, as though she had no clue.
"Well, you'll be happy to know that I don't need you to find me a date to the ball. I've just been asked by a smart and incredibley sweet girl."
Fiona grinned and Sirius winked at her.
"That's great, Remus," she said.
Remus smiled and said, "Well, it seems as though we all have dates now, don't we?"
"Well, it seems that we most certainly do, Moony," said James. The others jumped, not having heard James and Lily come back from dinner. They both chuckled.
"So you've agreed to go with James then Lily?" Fiona asked with a smirk. Lily narrowed her eyes at her.
"Shut it, we're just going as friends," said Lily, echoing Fiona's words. James hesitated before agreeing.
"Yeah, we don't want anything too serious," he said, "yet."
Lily rolled her eyes and gave James a hug before saying, "I'm going up to bed. Goodnight, everyone."
They all bade Lily goodnight as she walked up to her's and Fiona's dormitory. James collapsed onto the couch, looking happier than ever. A few minutes later, Peter emerged through the portrait hole and sat on the chair next to them all. He, too, looked very pleased and was touching his cheek, which Fiona assumed that Bertha had just kissed. Fiona looked around at the rest of them, all happily chatting with each other, and one thought seemed to cross her mind.
This ball was going to be one of the greatest times of their lives.


Hey everyone! Yet another long chapter that I hope you all enjoyed!(: I think that you all will be really pleased with the next chapter or two (haven't exactly decided which yet)! Don't be afraid to leave a comment or message me with any questions that you might have!(: I love you all! -- Kristynlynn