I stepped on the train with James and Sirius to start our third year at Hogwarts. Sirius had his arm slung around my shoulders as we tried to step at the exact same time but couldn't because we were laughing. James scoured the train for Lily to pass me off. I let out a loud laugh as Sirius tripped up the steps to their carriage.
"Nova!" Lily's voice rang as I looked up from Sirius. She was running at me full speed. I opened my arms to catch her. We fell to the floor as we collided, a pile of giggles. I hugged her tight.
"I've missed you! I can't believe you didn't visit all summer!" I pretended to scold her, she smiled softly and helped me up. Sirius pulled her into a hug while they made small talk. James never took his eyes off her. I nudged his ribs. He looked down at me. James grew a lot over the summer, we went from being the same height to him now towering over me. I had to crane my neck to look at him. He got a kick out of it.
"She grew over summer too, didn't she?" I joked, he pushed me away from him. I grabbed his arm and came back to his side. James had never looked at Lily like that before. It was usually a look reserved for seventh years. I didn't like that he was looking at my best friend like she was a piece of meat, but before I could say anything she turned and faced him. She tucked her hair behind her ear before grabbing my hand.
"Nice to see you again, James." She said. He scratched his nose, a nervous habit no one ever noticed.
"Nice to see you, Evans." He replied. She smiled at the boys before turning to me.
"Did you hear Indigo Grimwall got pulled from Hogwarts?" She asked me, I shook my head. Indigo was our fourth roommate. She was a quiet girl, never got in trouble. Frequently scolded me for getting in trouble and raising attention to her. I quite liked Indigo, she was a nice change of pace. "No one knows why. I wrote her as soon as I heard, but I've got nothing back. Weird isn't it?"
"Very. Maybe I'll write her." I turned to look at James. "Her dad's a part of the Ministry isn't he?"
"I think so."
"Wonder if Dad knows." Lily shrugged before we said our goodbyes and headed off to our own carriage. She closed the door tightly behind us. Marlene Mckinnon perked up from her seat and smiled at me.
"My favorite Potter!" She cheered as I sat next to her, she hugged me tightly.
"Oh Marls, please. I saw you last week." I batted at her trying to get her off, but she didn't budge.
"Muggle herb." Lily whispered, I laughed. I stroked Marlene's hair as she rested her head on my shoulder. We dove into catching up on Lily's life since she was MIA the whole summer. She told us about her and Severus sneaking away to practice magic. Marlene told Lily all about how boring her summer was until she came to visit us. All eyes turned to me.
"Did you tell Sirius?" Marlene asked halfway through the train ride, I glanced across the way to their carriage. I smiled at the four boys.
"Erm, we kissed." I said as I picked at my nails, Marlene grabbed my shoulders.
"You kissed?" Lily practically yelled, I shushed her.
"Yeah, well, we were out in the trees by the house y'know? We were talking, and I said how I used to have the biggest crush on him last year and he got all, well, Sirius, about it and he asked how I was sure I didn't like him anymore then he kissed me." I explained awkwardly. I wanted nothing more than to forget we kissed. Living with Sirius was more than enough to not like him anymore. Lily laughed abruptly then covered her mouth.
"It's not funny, I'm sorry." She said through a giggle. I cracked a smile.
"It's pretty funny. I mean, he's like my brother now. I can't believe I ever had a crush on him." Marlene laughed this time. I shook my head with a grin.
"No more Sirius Black talk, but did you see how hot Regulus Black got over summer?" Marlene asked, I rolled my eyes.
"Ew." I commented.
"No, he grew like three feet and he's hot now."
"He's still Regulus Black." I retorted, Lily covered her smile.
"Tiebreaker, go." Marlene ordered, Lily shook her head.
"He did get kind of hot over summer." She admitted, I groaned.
"Can you two not fawn over Regulus Black all year? He's terrible."
"Oh, my sweet, innocent girl Nova. Regulus Black wouldn't give us a second glance standing next to you." Lily joked, I rolled my eyes.
"Seriously, what is in that Pottor Mannor water? You lot got hot over summer!" Marlene nudged me, I gagged.
"Don't call my brother hot."
"Nova, your brother's hot."
"Marlene, I will jump out of the window while the train is in motion." As I said it, Lily craned her neck to look out the carriage window, I looked too. Regulus Black walked by as we did. He had grown quite a bit, his hair was longer now as well, it stopped right above his ears. It made him look like Sirius. He glanced over at us and threw us an annoying wink before walking past us. I rolled my eyes.
"See? Hot." Marlene said, her face a deep shade of red. I shook my head.
"Still Regulus black."
🗡🗡🗡
We sat through the introductions in the Great Hall and caught up with Remus and Peter at dinner. No one really came to visit this summer. We'd written Remus a million times asking him to come see us, or to let us come see him, but he shrugged us off every time telling us he was busy. Peter met up with us a few times in Diagon Alley but they were short visits. We all wrote to each other all summer, but it was never the same. Some things couldn't be said via letter. Remus poked my side.
"Study in the yard tomorrow?" He asked, I smiled.
"Absolutely." I replied, he slipped me a piece of chocolate.
"Pete, mate, I love you, you know that. You could not get Molly Prewett to go out with you." Sirius laughed, Peter rolled his eyes.
"I'm not asking for her hand in marriage! I just want to take her out one time."
"Y'know she wants, like, a million kids. Right?" Marlene asked.
"Imagine a million little Wormtails running around." James cackled. I finally broke and laughed.
"Pete, you don't even like Molly." I pointed out, he turned towards me.
"I do too! I think she's very pretty!" I put my hand up in his direction as I turned back to my food.
"Ask her out, right now then." I challenged, he stumbled to find words.
"Right now?"
"You're so madly in love with her, aren't you?" James joined in. Lily shushed us all.
"You lot leave him alone. He can like Molly if he likes and he doesn't have to ask her out." She scolded us. I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, mum." Me and James said at the same time. I poked at my food until we decided we were done. We headed back to the dorm where the boys followed us back to ours. We opened the door to see all of Indigo's posters and belongings gone. We looked at each other somberly. I sat down on my bed accompanied by Sirius. Marlene stared at him for a while with a cocked head. I shot her a look.
"Sorry, I just don't get it." She told me disgusted. I widened my eyes at her.
"Marlene!" I hissed.
"We dated last year!" Sirius defended himself, Marlene scoffed.
"Please, I would hardly call what we did dating." She told him. He nodded with a shrug.
"Plenty of people find me attractive Mckinnon."
"Are they blind?" She retorted. Sirius grinned and leaned closer to me.
"So, you told the girls?" I rolled my eyes.
"Shut up and keep pretending it never happened." I whispered sternly back. He laughed. "You're impossible Sirius Black."
"You love me Nova Potter."
