Astray

Chapter 13

Coralie walked into her first class that day, Potions, and sat at an empty desk and put her bag in the seat next to her. She pulled out a roll of parchment, a quill, and a well of ink and neatly arranged them on her desk. A few seconds later a panting Alice rushed to her side.

"Cor I need to ask you for a favor," she sat in the seat next to Coralie after she moved her things from the seat.

"Yeah Ali?" she waited for her to continue.

"I need you to pull a prank on Theodora Zambini, Mary and I already planned it we just need you to execute our plan because, quite frankly, we just aren't any good at being sneaky and you are still managing to pull pranks on Lily without even sharing a dorm. So please, will you?" Alice begged with puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, I will, but what's the plan?" she gave into Alice's begging face.

"Great! Meet us outside by the big tree next to the Black Lake after lunch and before Flying lessons, we'll explain the plans to you then," she jumped up from her seat and went back over to her seat next to Mary. She whispered something to Mary before she gave Coralie an excited thumbs up before Lily turned around and berated them for being nice to her before giving her a nasty glare and returning her attention to the conversation they were having at their shared desk.

"Sev!" Coralie called to him when she saw his crestfallen expression as he learned that Lily sat next to Marleen instead of him.

"Thanks, Coralie, you saved me from having no one to sit by," he smiled and took a seat next to her.

"No problem! We haven't spoken much since the train so I would like a chance to get to know you better," she noticed James glaring at them from a few seats in front of them as she smiled. She also saw as he stood from his place next to Peter and walked to their desk with his bag over his shoulder.

"Scram," he nodded his head to the side as if to gesture for Severus to move. Severus gathered his things and almost did move if it hadn't been for Coralie.

"Who are you to tell him to move?" she stood in front of James even though she was shorter than him by about half a foot she still intimidated him.

"I'm trying to help you get away from this slimeball and you repay me by sizing me up?" he raised an eyebrow and moved forward.

"Severus Snape, move another muscle and see what happens!" he had made a move to leave but she saw him from the corner of her eye.

"Sorry," He mumbled and sat back down, but no one seemed to hear him because of the argument still going on.

"Aaahhh! You are so unbelievable!" She finally screamed just as Professor Slughorn walked into the room.

"Good mor- what is going on here?" The smile dropped from his face as he realized two of his students were at each other's throats. The room went silent as they, still red in the face and fist clenched, turned to look at him.

"Professor!" They both started telling him their sides of the story at top speed and trying to talk over one another.

"Enough! Miss Dumbledore, you go first, Mr. Potter, you will get your chance afterward," he turned to look at the young girl so she could explain.

"I- I, well-," she suddenly burst into tears.

"What's wrong?" Slughorn looked alarmed at the sudden tears running down her face.

"I'm sorry, Professor, this is all just so overwhelming. I just wanted Severus to sit by me today and then James comes over and starts yelling at us. I didn't mean for it to go this far, I was just sticking up for my friend," she sobbed and took the handkerchief that he had offered her.

"Now, now, calm down I'm sure we can settle this," he patted her back as she cried into his handkerchief. She peeled out above the edge of it when he wasn't looking to smirk at James.

"I'm sorry, sir, I was out of line," James said stiffly. It seemed as though he had picked up on her trick and was trying to copy it himself to get out of trouble but he was executing it horridly.

"That is no excuse for the amount of distress you have caused Miss Dumbledore," she stuck her head back down in it and pretended to sob even louder, "you have detention Tuesday night as well as ten points from Gryffindor."

"B-but sir-" James was shocked at the punishment he had received.

"No buts, now take a seat Mr. Potter, we need to start class we are already behind schedule," he lead Coralie back to her seat and headed to the front of the room.

"I'm sorry," Severus said while they were making their cure for boils.

"It's not your fault, James is the one that came over and started all of this," she smiled at him as she stirred in the porcupine quills.

By the time class ended they were in a fight of laughter from a joke Severus had made. They parted ways to go to their next class and waved as they walked their separate ways.

"Coralie, I'm so sorry," James and the other Marauders caught up with her.

"I'm sorry, Sirius, did you hear anything?" She pretended to have not heard his apology.

"Hahhahah! No, I-I don't believe I did! Haha!" He barked with laughter and wiped away a few tears from laughing so hard.

"Good, because I didn't either," she smirked in amusement as she saw his face drop out of the corner of her eye.

"Enough of that we need to get to class," Remus tried to hide his amusement but it didn't work as the corners of his lips were slightly turning up.

"Remus is correct, come along boys," she linked arms with Sirius, who was just now catching his breath, and Remus, who couldn't hold back anymore and broke into a smile.

The next few classes James kept pestering her as she pretended not to hear him before, finally, lunch rolled around. Before he could say another word to her she bolted out of the classroom and down to the Black Lake to wait for Alice.

"Cora!" Alice waved as she dragged Mary behind her.

"Hello!" Mary greeted as she fought to catch her breath.

"What plans do you have?" Coralie skipped the formalities and got straight to the point as she dropped the flower crown she was working on. There was a stack of them that she had already finished as she waited for the girls to arrive.

"Well, we were thinking..."