Astray

Chapter 12

"The Marauders!" Coralie exclaimed jumping from her position on her bed.

"The what?" James was startled from his game of exploding snap with Sirius.

"You know, The Marauders, for a group name," she explained further. A few days ago Sirius, James, and herself were trying to come up with a name for their group. Remus thought it was a stupid idea and Peter was trying to get his homework in before class started so they weren't helping with the thought process.

"We're not going back to that again are we?" Remus looked at her incredulously. At the moment they were laying on her bed and working on an essay for transfiguration while the other boys were playing exploding snap on the floor.

"Yes, we are, and I for one think The Marauders is a wonderful name," she turned to him and playfully glared at him.

"What does that even mean?" James sat up from his laying position on the floor.

"A marauder is a raider," Sirius explained before Coralie could get a word out.

"That doesn't sound like a very nice thing to be called," Peter quietly objected.

"I fell as though it is accurate to what we do. I mean we pull a lot of pranks and have a good laugh together," she explained.

"What does that have to do with being a Marauder?" James still seemed confused.

"A marauder a basically a pirate and aren't pirates really cool? So if we call ourselves The Marauders we are basically calling ourselves pirates and do in turn we are pretty much saying 'be friends with us, we're cool!'" She continued trying to win him over with the nickname.

"That does sound pretty awesome!" James was finally on board with the name.

Remus parted his lips as though he was about to speak but closed them and rolled his eyes, continuing with his homework.

"All those in favor say "aye"," Coralie said

"Aye," Sirius, James, and Peter all looked at Remus waiting for what he was going to say.

"Since I'm fighting a losing battle I might as well. Aye," it was official. They would now be called The Marauders.

Coralie and Remus finished up their essay and she decided to join the game of exploding snap while he opted for reading a book.

"Tomorrow's Monday and it's getting late so we should probably go to bed," Remus announced before standing up and throwing his book onto his bed. They all go up and Coralie went into the bathroom to change into her pajamas while the boys changed in the room.

She finished getting dressed and called to the boys," Are you guys done yet?" She got a "Yeah" in response before opening the door and sitting on her bed.

"What's our agenda for tomorrow?" She laid on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"I want to pull a few pranks on some particularly nasty Slytherin fifth years," James rested his arm on his forehead.

"I was going to get caught up on a few books I started reading but never finished, after class that is," Remus looked up from the book he was reading.

"I'm not sure, but I'm up for a few pranks with James," Sirius fell back onto his bed.

"I'll just do whatever you guys want to," Peter smiled.

"Okay, sounds like a plan. Goodnight guys," Coralie flicked her lamp off before pulling the blankets up to her chin.

"Goodnight," the boys called before copying her actions.

Coralie drifted off easily that night while absent-mindedly stroking the fur of her small cat's back, that was curled up on the pillow beside her head.

"Good morning!" Coralie called upon seeing the boys were awake. She was fully dressed and ready for breakfast but was waiting for the boys to get ready.

"Morn'n," Sirius drowsily called back, Remus was already awake when she had gotten up earlier so he greeted her then, and James just nodded in acknowledgment while Peter was still asleep.

She stood in front of the mirror she hung inside of her wardrobe and ran a hand through her damp hair before picking up her wand and drying it. She inspected it with a critical eye before deciding her ringlets were up to par and moving on the tie her red and gold tie around her neck. She buttoned her grey cardigan and buckled her black shoes. She slung her black satchel with her school books in it over her shoulder before grasping the doorknob as she patiently waited for the boys to finish getting ready.

"Done?" she asked when the four boys were standing in front of her, all dressed with bags thrown over their shoulders.

"Yes, ma'am!" Sirius jokingly saluted her.

She laughed and opened the door walking out followed by Apollo, James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus. They walked down to the Great Hall and she took a seat between Molly and Sirius.

"Good morning, Molly," she smiled up at the older girl and started piling up pancakes, bacon, and toast onto her plate.

"Good morning," Molly greeted all of them before returning to her food. The other girls Coralie used to share a room with entered the room with Lily strutting in at the front of their group casually gossiping about the tattered robes Anastasia Zambini, a beautiful Slytherin girl in their year with sharp features and mature attitude, was wearing yesterday. They were followed in by Mary and Alice who kept giggling every few seconds and looking over at Theodora Zambini, a third year Hufflepuff and sister to Anastasia, during her short period at Hogwarts Coralie had come to dislike the girl with a fiery passion, even more than she disliked Lily.

Coralie raised an eyebrow at this observation but thought nothing else of it as she continued eating. She was taking a sip of her milk when a note fell over her shoulder. She picked it up and looked around to see if she could spot who had placed it there when she saw Alice wink at her out of the corner of her eye. She looked around to see if anyone else had noticed Alice slipping her the note but the boys were all in a loud conversation about broom lessons today and Molly was preoccupied with talking to Arther about prefect duties.

Coralie brought her attention back to the piece of paper in between her fingers and delicately unfolded the parchment. Her eyes scanned over the sloppy cursive letters:

"Save me the next to you in Potions -A"