Separate Universe (HP/MCU)

Chapter Two

     Nanala walked into the Great Hall with the Marauders following close to her. She was walking in the middle, as James walked on one side and Remus walked on the other. Sirius was next to James and Peter was next to Remus. This was a normal thing for them, but the different thing was now James was holding Nanala's hand in front of the entire school. Everyone seemed to turn towards them as they walked in, and almost everyone seemed to zone in on the two interlocked hands.

"I can feel all of their eyes on us," Nanala murmured, and James grinned.

"Just embrace it, Kitty. Do it for our benefit," James replied, as he squeezed her hand lightly.

"C'mon, let's go sit down. The first years are being sorted soon," Remus said, leading the others towards the Gryffindor table.

      Nanala sat down first, and James sat down next to her; closer than he ever did before. She understood that he wanted to keep up a facade, but she had no idea how far he was willing to go to make Lily jealous. She could feel eyes on them, and when she looked down the table, she seen Lily, Marlene McKinnon, and Dorcas Meadowes staring at them. The girls' other friend, Alice Fortescue, was in Hufflepuff, and she graduated a year before them.

"I knew she was going to be with one of them, I just thought it would've been Lupin," Nanala heard Marlene tell Lily and Dorcas, causing Nanala to roll her eyes.

"You two better play it up, otherwise Evans will see right through you," Sirius murmured, only loud enough for his four friends to hear.

"Don't you even think about it--" Nanala began, seeming to know what James was thinking.

      Before the words could completely come out of her mouth, James leaned forward and placed his lips on her. When she didn't kiss him back immediately, James placed his hand on her waist and pinched her. When they pulled away, she looked at the boy and scowled. He only grinned at her, as Sirius jokingly scolded them for their PDA.

"It's working, I think," Peter murmured, as he glanced towards the girls.

        James, Remus, Sirius, and Nanala knew it would take a lot more than a simple kiss to make Lily realize she had a thing for James, but Nanala didn't know how long she was going to be able to play along before her own feelings came into the mix. She didn't want to let her feelings mix with the mess, but she knew sooner or later she wouldn't be able to help herself.

      Anyhow, once the first years were sorted, the feast began and everyone was able to talk and joke amongst themselves. Sirius and Nanala talked about their crappy home lives, though Sirius was now happily living with the Potters. Nanala was jealous that he was able to get out, but she knew if she even tried, her parents or brother would track her down and hurt her and the people she ran to. Lucius had graduated two years earlier with his girlfriend, Narcissa Black, so Nanala didn't have to see him, but everything she did was always reported back to him or her family because of nosey Slytherins.

       Narcissa Black was Sirius's cousin, and she was nothing like Sirius. She hated anyone that wasn't pure blood, and she seemed to follow along with the Dark Lord, much like the rest of her family and Nanala's family. Nanala and Sirius were the odd ones out when it came to their families, but they weren't the only ones really. Andromeda Black, Narcissa's oldest sister, married a muggle born named Ted Tonks. She was disowned, the same as Sirius, and soon Nanala believed she would be disowned from her own family as well. Nanala wasn't a big fan of her family though, so being disowned wasn't too scary to her. The only bad thing in her mind was that she would lose the money that her family always had. She planned to take as much as she could before graduating though, and so far she was doing pretty good.

       Nanala had a special box under Remus's bed in the boys' dorm room. The box held around one hundred galleons inside, and each time she went to Diagon Alley, she would pull out ten more from the family vault. Her family seemed to be completely oblivious to it, which she was thankful for, and she hoped they would stay oblivious. If they found out, she would definitely be hit with an unforgivable, which wasn't something she liked.

"Hopefully we have all of the same classes," James commented, smiling at the girl.

"Prongs, we have had the same classes for the last six years, if we don't this year, it's because Minnie has it out for you," Nanala replied, causing the other boys to chuckle.

"She never would, I'm her favorite," He said, and the girl laughed herself this time.

"As if," She retorted, shaking her head with a playful smile.

      James didn't know why, but hearing her laugh made his belly fill with butterflies. He was use to getting that feeling from Lily, but he had never gotten that feeling from Nanala. Well, he did in third year, but that was when he accidentally stole her first kiss. They had been playing truth or dare with the other boys and a couple of girls, when Sirius had dared James to kiss Nanala. Neither participant had ever had their first kiss, so when they kissed, James's tummy filled with butterflies, as did Nanala's. She was his first kiss, as he was hers, and that was probably the moment Nanala knew there was something about James, but she hadn't quite developed a crush yet.

"Want to get out of here for some time alone?" James asked, hoping Lily could hear what he had asked Nanala.

"Yes," She replied,"Bring me a couple pumpkin pasties when you go to leave, please," She commented to Remus, and the boy nodded, watching as his two friends walked away.

         Remus hoped Nanala wouldn't be hurt by James in the end. Nanala hoped she wouldn't be hurt, but she also hoped James would never learn of her true feelings for him. James, he only hoped Lily would become jealous and finally want to be with him. He didn't realize that he was starting to somewhat catch feelings for his blonde best friend...