lovesick || r. lupin

²bull fight

As a crowd of students began to press against each other, giving the signal that they were exiting off the train, Ayla tightened her yellow and black tie, hoping it would be secure. She ran her pale fingers across the seams of the fabric, flattening the robes down and praying there weren't wrinkles.

"Come on, Ayla," Grace called as she stood beside the door. "Potter's not going to be out there. By now they're probably already in a carriage and you won't have to see him."

"I'm not worried about that, Grace. It's not always about him," Ayla lied, her eyebrows furrowed and lips set in a frown. "And it's James. Not Potter."

"Okay, okay, whatever you say," Grace answered back, shrugging her shoulders, her dark brown eyes glimmering with mischief.

Throwing open the sliding door, Grace led the way through the crowd, Ayla holding onto her hood and her voice trailing apologies behind to the people they were ramming into.

Ayla pulled back on Grace's robes, "Slow down, you arsewad! We're practically running over people!"

"Oh, that's a new one. Arsewad," Grace tried the word out on her tongue, then adding in a mouth pop at the end to put emphasis.

"Go eat dung."

-----

Walking into the warm but windy atmosphere that surrounded Hogwarts, Ayla's lips grew into a grin, the fond memories coming back to her.

She remembered the one time last year that her and Grace had bribed the Gryffindor singing painting to not let any of the Marauders in for a whole day by telling her that they would listen to her beautiful singing for a solid hour. The lady caved, obviously, and the quad of boys got detention for two weeks for not having their supplies for any of their classes, saying that they left all of it in their dorm when they went to breakfast. Ayla remembered that James had looked livid, a deep frown on his, what Ayla believed to be, handsome and chiseled face.

Ayla also remembered when Grace had jumped off the greenhouses roof in fourth year because Sirius Black had made a bet that she wouldn't dare to do it. Grace had broken her right ankle and pouted around about it for a week to Ayla's dismay even though it has gotten healed within 30 minutes. "Oh, that bloody arsewipe. Thinking I wouldn't do it. Oh, I showed him," Ayla had remembered her muttering to herself whilst laying in the hospital wings bed. James had gotten 10 galleons in that bet and she remembered how happy he looked. Ayla liked when he was happy.

A soft nudge to Ayla's side had came, the source being a smirking Grace. "Whatcha' thinkin' about?"

"Nothin'. Just..." James Potter and our crazy adventures, she thought, "stuff."

"Okay then," Grace rolled her eyes, grabbing Ayla's elbow and pulling her along to the carriages.

The carriages were like most others, black as night and wheels that creaked when it got too humid. The lights it bore let off a yellow glow and a crisp aura around it, which Ayla thought added to the magic of Hogwarts. Of course there were things that did set it apart from others, with it leading to a wizarding school but nothing actually leading it. There was nothingness, pushing or pulling the carriage along making Ayla a bit unnerved but soon making her accept it because, of course it won't have anything leading it. This is a wizarding school afterall.

The inside of it was warm and cozy, the seats a soft velvet red and the flooring was a dark brown, almost as dark as the black that lined the outside.

"Hopefully, we'll get our own carriage. Just close the door and hope no one comes in," Grace had told Ayla as they sat down.

Through minutes of waiting, a glimmering hope that they would in fact get a carriage just for them, the door slammed open and a long string of curse words arose in the air around them.

"Sirius, you really just need to calm down. I bet James didn't mean to leave us," a harmonious voice stated, almost in a matter of factly tone.

"Yeah, it was all by accident. We all know he's crazy for Lily, so what where you expecting-" Squeaked another before being interrupted.

"Oh, piss off, Wormtail. You- oh, come on, you got to be kidding me," the gruff voice spat, anger lacing through it. "Why's she here?" Sirius Black gestured towards Grace, a scowl on his face.

"Oh, is this your carriage too, Black?-" Grace began to attack back before the calm voice came again.

"Maybe... now hear me out, Pads... they were here first and we're the ones intruding?" Remus Lupin said sarcasticly, a hand in his pocket as the other rest on Sirius' shoulder with a sly smirk beginning to play on his lips.

"You're taking their side!?"

"Quite frankly, yes, I am," Remus answered again, removing his hand from Sirius shoulder and stuffing it back into his pants pocket.

"You traitor!" Sirius fummed, folding his arms and taking a seat across from Grace and Ayla.

Lily. Of course it was about Lily. Ayla knew that he would have left to go sit with her. He'd been in love with her since second year, after all, but somehow, it still stung knowing that she'd never have a chance with him.

"Oh, yes, how dare I have an opinion," Remus rolled his eyes, walking further into the carriage and taking a seat next to Sirius, leaving room for Peter on his left.

Peter took his seat whilst the group sat in a tense silence as the carriage began to move, a glower rest on Sirius' lips and a bored expression on Remus'. Peter began to pull chocolates and caramels out of his pocket, slowly and quite loudly unfolding them, a crackle following along as he stuffed the wrappers back into his pants. Grace looked out the window, brows furrowed softly but not too much of anything else.

She'd always been good at hiding her emotions. She was the hardest person for Ayla to read, the only thing that she really could make out on Grace's face was the tight anger and frustration that she held in moments like this.

"Would you mind?" Grace snapped at Peter, her fingers holding tightly onto her robes.

"Don't pick at him, what's your problem?! Are you on your period or someth-"

"Oh, you little-" Grace began to stand up, ready to pummel Sirius for what he had just asked but before she could Ayla held Grace down as much as she could.

"Hey, calm down, kay? You don't always have to fight with him," Ayla spat, gritting her teeth as she held Grace to her chair, whilst both Peter and Remus held Sirius down.

"Why cant you two just get along, its not that hard?!" Peter screeched, his face flushing with a soft red through putting all his force into keeping Sirius from standing up.

"She's a-" Sirius began.

"You better not say its because she's a Slytherin because that's the dumbest bloody thing I've ever heard," Remus removed his arm from Sirius' chest and wrapped his fingers on Sirius' ear, beginning to pull on it.

Sirius began to whine in pain, a squeal Ayla never thought she could hear from him came and a few mutters of, "Okay, okay, I'll stop, just please let go."

As the two began to calm down, Ayla giving off a nervous chuckle to try to cleanse the air of the burning fire that was slowly dissipating, "Pretty crazy weather we're having, huh?"