Not a Monster (Marauder fanfic)

5- Cool Kids

Although Sara didn't get much sleep, on her first night, she was the first girl in her year, to attend breakfast, the next morning. As the other girls wanted to make sure that they looked pretty, for their first day of school.
Sara had never been interested in looks, or pretty dresses, so she left her room mates to it.
The Great Hall was rather empty, compared to the night before, when Sara arrived. Which pleased her, as the big crowds of people, the night before, had made her nervous.
Sara looked up and down the Gryffindor table, before deciding to sit opposite the boy named Remus, who's compartment she had sat in, on the train ride there.
The variety of breakfast options, laid on the table in front of her, caused Sara's jaw to drop. She had never eaten the amount of food in front of her, in a day. Let alone just for breakfast.
At home, breakfast consisted of toast, or luke-warm porridge.
But Hogwarts breakfasts, were entirely different.

"I don't know where to start" she mumbled.
Remus looked up at her, and smiled.
"I didn't know either. There's an awful lot of food here" he agreed.
"Yeah... We don't even have this much food in my whole house"
"Me neither"
"How was your first night in the castle?"
"O.K... Yours?"
"Same... Didn't get much sleep though. The girls stayed up most of the night, talking"
"We did the same. But I think getting to know each other is important. Worth sacrificing one nights sleep"
"I agree... Right, I'd better tuck in. Or I will never be finished before the first lesson"
"Yeah. Try not to eat too much though. You don't want to explode"
"Thanks for the warning".

Sara had just started filling up her plate with all kinds of meats, when two Gryffindor boys came in, and sat either side of her.
Unsure of how to react, Sara chose to ignore them, and continue with her breakfast.
The boy on her left, who she remembered, was called Sirius Black, picked a sausage from her plate, and popped it into his mouth.
"Hey!" Snapped Sara, turning to face the boy.
Sirius grinned, as he chewed his food, and pointed to Remus.
"Remus here, says you're pretty bad ass. He said that on the train here, you were prepared to take on Snivelus, single handedly" said Sirius, through mouthfulls of sausage.
"Snivelus?" Questioned Sara.
"Yeah. The greasy haired, Slytherin boy... Snape"
"Oh him. Well, yeah, we didn't get off to the best start"
"And you were gonna fight him, there and then?"
"I don't think it would have gotten that far. But I was prepared to, if I had to"
"Wow. You're pretty brave. For a girl".

"Are you saying that girls can't be as brave as boys?" Snapped Sara angrily.
Sirius smiled, and looked to the other boy, on Sara's right.
"I like this one, James" he said.
The boy named James, grinned.
"You're Sara, right?" He quizzed.
"Yeah" she answered.
"Cool. I'm James Potter. That's Sirius. And Remus you already know"
"Charmed"
"Sorry if he came off a bit rude, that's just his nature. You'll have to forgive him".
"Hey! There are perks to being rude, you know" interjected Sirius.
James rolled his eyes, and looked up and down the Gryffindor table, frowning.
"Where are the rest of the girls in your dorm?" He asked.
"Making themselves look pretty, so that they can make a good first impression" replied Sara, as she ripped up a piece of crossiant, and shoved it into her mouth.

James and Sirius both smiled at each other, and nodded.
"So, you're not interested in any of that?" Sirius questioned.
"Nope. Never have. Never will" Sara answered.
"That's good. Cos we wanted to know if you wanted to hang out with us from time to time. But we didn't want you to ve with us, if you were going to be a prissy princess, or a rule-loving bookworm"
"Thanks"
"I'm saying that you aren't those things"
"That you know of. You've only spoken to me once"
"True. But I like to think that I'm a very good judge of character"
"Good for you"
"So?"
"So what?"
"Do you want to hang out with us or not?".
The cogs in Sara's head were spinning frantically. She hadn't expected to make friends, at least not on the first day.
And here were 2 boys, asking to be her friend.
Sara had never had friends before, so was excited at the prospect of getting some. But she was nervous, because she didn't know boys that well. As she had only ever been around women, and grown men.

Deciding to follow her gut instinct, and not her head, Sara nodded.
"Sure. I'll hang out with you guys... Until I find some cooler people".
Sirius laughed.
"Ha. Good luck with that. We are the coolest people in the whole school".
"Maybe in your dreams Black"
"Alright, haha... Wait... What's your last name?"
"Burne"
"Burne? Like burn, as in fire?"
"Yes, like the fire".
Sara sighed. The fact that her surname was Burne, and that she could turn into a fire-breathing dragon, was no coincidence.
When her Grandmother had spurned the advances of a Swedish boy, he had chosen to curse her to be Maledictus. And he had chosen a dragon, because of her last name.
Irony was a cruel master.

"Sara! Sara. Are you alright?" James asked, looking concerned.
"Sure. Why wouldn't I be?" Questioned Sara.
"Well, you looked like you kind of spaced out for a moment. Sirius was asking you a question, and you blanked him"
"Oh, sorry. My mind was somewhere else. What did he ask?"
"He wanted to know if you're a pure-blood, like the rest of us"
"Yes- I mean no- I mean... I'm not sure. My dad walked out on my mother, before I was born, and my mother won't ever speak about him. So I don't know if he was a wizard or not"
"But your mum's a witch?"
"Of course"
"Just checking. You could've been a muggle-born"
"Well, I'm not. My mother, and my grandparents are witches... Not that I'm prejudice though".

"No, I didn't think you were. I don't think they let racist pure-bloods into Gryffindor. They get put in Slytherin, with the rest of the Dark wizards... No offense mate" apologised James, looking at his friend.
Sirius shrugged.
"None taken. I'm not going to be like the rest of my Slytherin family, I can assure you... Come on, we'd better get going, if we're ever going to get to Transfiguration in time".
"Yeah, I suppose we had better go... Coming Remus?" James questioned.
Remus nodded nervously, and picked up his school bag.
Sara popped her last piece of crossiant into her mouth, and stood up, to join the boys.
And once they were all ready, they made their way out of the room, heading for their first ever school lesson.