"Gold are your fingers, leaving traces everywhere you go." - Saint Mesa
-// PART THREE - FIFTH YEAR \\-
IN WHICH PLATONIC BECOMES NOT-SO-PLATONIC
OR
THE ONE WHERE EVERYTHING CHANGED
BOOK 2
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// SONG: Wild Thing, The Troggs \\
-//-
No one said it, but it was blatantly clear.
Fewer first years were arriving at Hogwarts this year.
There were even a few students of higher grades who hadn't made a reappearance. But no one said anything. No one wanted to jinx it. But everyone could feel it.
The world was changing.
The sky was growing darker for each day.
But no one said anything. No one dared point it out because if they didn't, they could pretend the world was alright for a little while longer.
James nudged Peter with his elbow. "Did they get smaller this year?" Peter put a hand up to cover his sniggers at that. Because the first years did in fact seem smaller to the fifth year boys. But that was probably to blame for the fact that all four boys had grown quite a bit over the summer.
"Can't believe we were that small once," Peter muttered back. James smirked to himself. "Some of us are still that small," he said, loud enough for Andrea to hear across from him.
"Cocky shit," she muttered as she glared at him. "And FYI," she said with a smug look, "I'm taller than Peter now." "Flowers take longer to grow," Peter said, sticking his nose in the air.
"Would you all shut up? I'm trying to concentrate," Sirius mumbled. Andrea and Peter turned to him in shock. "I don't think I've heard you say those words before. Ever," she said earnestly, wondering if he'd hit his head.
Sirius shot her a glare. "So childish. You'll understand when you're older," he said wistfully. Andrea rolled her eyes but turned back to the front. The Sorting Hat had finished his song and she got ready for the guessing games to begin.
But they were just as bad as the year before. James didn't guess the correct house for any first years and Sirius got three out of sheer dumb luck because he guessed Gryffindor on every single one.
The Marauders enjoyed themselves with the entertainment until McGonagall pulled Remus aside and lectured him about being a role model and having to take his role as Prefect seriously.
That made him lecture his friends on their behaviour for about an hour.
-//-
It had become a fact the other Marauders had grown used to, that James would sleep in Andrea's dorm the first night back from breaks.
And most Saturdays.
This year was no different. The two sat in the common room, crowded around friends and caught up with what everyone had been up to over break. But as the room emptied, they headed upstairs to Andrea's dorm and went into sharing the bits of their break they usually saved for just each other.
